Zinnia

Zinnia is a genus of plants, tribe Heliantheae, family Asteraceae, comprising 23 accepted species and named for the 18th-century German scientist Johann Gottfried Zinn. Native to scrub and dry grassland from the Southwestern United States to South America with a center of diversity in Mexico, the genus is notable for solitary, long-stemmed, typically 12-petal flowers in a variety of bright colors; the type species, Zinnia peruviana, ranges from Chihuahua to Paraguay including the Galapagos and West Indies, and several species have naturalized in parts of the United States, China and South Africa.