Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Mystery Costus ID????, 0 by gingersrus

gingersrus wrote:
Very interesting plant! It does not look like any I have seen. The amount of hairyness tends to be variable within species of Costus and does not help to identify in most cases, or only to distinguish between closely related species. Looks like the edges of the bract appendages are curled inwards on the edges like Costus productus. It would help to see a bract dissected from the inflorescence to see if there is a distinct appendage or if the bracts are merely curved outwards. Looks from the photo like appendages.

Do you have a close-up photo of an individual flower? Looks like it is the tubular type, not the spreading type, and red-orange in color, but difficult to see in your photo. Is it a terminal bloomer or a basal bloomer?

Also the length and shape of the ligule is a character used in identification and is important in distinguishing Costus productus from similar looking species like Costus curvibracteatus, Costus montanus and Costus barbatus. If you have Costus barbatus then you REALLY have a special plant because that one apparently is not found anywhere in cultivation and may even be extinct in the wild. The one in US horticulture sold as Costus barbatus is really Costus comosus var. bakeri. (For details go to
http://www.gingersrus.com/botanical/description.php?PID=3074)

If you have a close-up photo of the flower and photo or description of the ligules, that would help, but based on this photo the most likely are Costus productus or Costus curvibracteatus both of which appear to have appendaged bracts that are curved inwards and small tubular flowers. I assume you don't know where it was collected - that would also help a lot.

Other possibilities are Costus montanus (does not look like a form I have seen), Costus cupreifolius, or Costus quasi-appendiculatus. All have red appendaged bracts and small tubular flowers. If the bracts are not appendaged, that opens up several other possibilities.

Dave Skinner
http://www.gingersrus.com

Here is a form of Costus productus (as determined by Chelsea Specht) that is growing at Lyon Arboretum.


This message was edited Jan 30, 2007 7:14 AM

This message was edited Jan 30, 2007 7:23 AM