Dahlia coccinea

Botanical Description

Dahlia coccinea is an erect herbaceous plant with unbranched to sparsely branched stems; it can grow 50 - 150cm tall, occasionally reaching 300cm[ 331 Title Flora of Guatemala Publication Author Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark Website http://www.archive.org/ Publisher Year 1946 - 1976 ISBN Description A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/ , 2176 Title Revision of the Genus Dahlia (Compositae, Heliantheae - Coreopsidinae) Part 2 Publication Rhodora Vol. 71, July-September 1969, No. 787 pp 367-416 Author Sorensen P.D. Publisher Year 1969 ISBN Description ]. The tuberous roots were commonly used for food and medicine in pre-Columbian Mexico, and are still eaten to a limited extent in the present day[ 1839 Title Use and Nutritional Composition of some Traditional Mountain Pima Plant Foods Publication J. Ethnobiol. 11(1):93-114 Summer 1991 Author Laferriere J.E.; Weber C.W. & Kohlhepp E.A. Publisher Year 1991 ISBN Description ]. Gathered from the wild, they are sometimes sold in local markets[ 2174 Title The Medicinal and Nutritional Properties of Dahlia spp. Publication Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 14 (1985) 75-82 Author Whitley G.R. Publisher Year 1985 ISBN Description ]. The plant, however, is now more likely to be cultivated for its ornamental red, orange, or yellow flowers[ 1438 Title Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesticated, Cultivated, and Wild Plants Used for Human Food in North, Publication Author Kermath B.M.; Bennett B.C.' Pulsipher L.M. Publisher Year 2014 ISBN Description A pre-publication draft of an amazing, on-going work first started in 1985. It contains information on more than 3,900 taxa from the Americas - from Arctic regions to the Tropics ].