It's this one, Araujia sericifera, aka Cruel Vine, plus several other names. After reading about this plant, I would not plant it in my yard. It seems to be the kudzu of California, smothering anything in its path. Here is a link that might be useful: Araujia sericifera

That is the scariest thing I've seen since the movie "Aliens" LOL! I didn't even know cosmos HAD tubers. But from looking I think you're right on circling the yellow parts as what would produce upward growth. My guess on the purple circled roots are a younger set of roots. My guess on the red circled part is an older root. And the green circled clump: my guess would be the original little clump that has gone on to reproduce the red and purple circled parts. Lots of good looking white roots in there too, so they must be healthy. I would guess you could separate this mass into at least 3 plants, but like I said, don't know anything about cosmos tubers. Can you inquire at the bulbs forum here?

haaahaha...i now don't feel so bad knowing that a family of squirrels has taken up residence in my garage. good thing my garage is not attached to the house. but they have torn a huge hole in the back of my garage, and it seems that they are not even scared of me anymore. when i go in the garage, the mother squirrel does not even move from her spot up in the rafters. i swear today that one of them was waiting for me on my back porch....wtf?? thankfully my husband has just bought a giant assault rifle type pellet gun and is excited to use it. the squirrels have done so much damage to our garage, i almost feel like we might as well tear it down and build a new one. they have ripped down ALL the insulation, and the holes are ridiculous. so...good luck to all you squirrel hunters out there...and just remember...they might be cute..BUT THEY ARE STILL RATS!!!!

Oceanna, it is BM Spice Gold, the color card makes it seem so dark, but it's not at all. The first coat goes on pretty dark, but after the second coat it's fine. I would say the eating area is the most accurate color. It is the same color in the hallway by the stairs, where the entry table ,where the kids pics are and in the family room and kitchen, oh an upstairs spare bath. Based on the lighting it looks different. I wanted all the same color, but at this time did not want to repaint kitchen/family room. If I was willing to repaint, I would have done SW Restrained Gold. Still trying to find the right light fixture I used the polyshades on the staircase on and the spare vanity upstairs in the pic. I used Bombay Mahogany. I would recommend using the cherry color, the Bom Mah is way too dark. I wish I would have painted the vanity a chocolate color, it would have been easier. The stain is very hard to work with as it is extremely thick and gooey.