Annuals, 10-120+ cm. Leaf blades 30-120(-250+) mm overall, principal lobes/leaflets 9-25, lanceolate to lance-linear, 15-25(-45+) × 3-8(-12+) mm. Heads borne ± singly. Peduncles 30-100(-150+) mm. Involucres 10-22+ × (3-)5-12+ mm. Ray florets (3-)5-8+ (to 100+ in 'double' cultivars); laminae yellow to orange, red-brown (sometimes particolored: yellow/red-brown), or white (some cultivars), ± flabellate to oval-quadrate, (2-)12-18(-25+) mm. Disc florets (10-)50-120+; corollas 7-12+ mm. Cypselae 6-11 mm; pappi of 0-2, ± subulate-aristate scales 6-12+ mm plus 2-4 distinct or connate, linear-oblong, ± erose scales 2-6+ mm. 2n = 24, 48. Flowering ± year round. Disturbed sites; 0-1000+ m; Ala., Ark., Calif., Conn., Fla., Ill., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mo., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Utah, Vt., Va., Wis., Wyo.; Mexico. Cultivars of Tagetes erecta are widely grown in gardens and, commercially, for cut flowers. They often persist after abandoned plantings. Tetraploid plants (2n = 48) with smaller involucres and wholly or partially red-brown corollas included here in T. erecta have been called T. patula by some botanists.