Herbs, annual. Stems erect or straggling, 0.5-1 m, glabrous. Leaves: petiole elongate, to 6 cm; blade unlobed, lanceolate or ovate, to 3-11 × 1-6 cm, base tapering, apex acuminate. Inflorescences interrupted, lax spikelike panicles, units less than 10 mm diam. Flowers: tepals silvery, whitish, or tannish, 1-veined, ovate, 2-3 mm, membranous, margins faintly erose, apex rounded-acute; style 0.2 mm; stigmas 3. Utricles 3-3.5 mm. Seeds 4-8, 0.7-1 mm diam., faintly reticulate. 2n = 18.

Flowering winter. Edges of orange groves, wet woods; 0-10 m; introduced; Fla.; Africa.

According to R. P. Wunderlin (1979), Celosia trigyna is an occasional weed introduced from tropical Africa.