THANKS
Anyone know if this one is Costus malortieanus?
Yep! That it is. I saw lots of it in the Tilaran Mountains of Costa Rica just last August. Plenty more photos at http://www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=3217 (scroll down to the bottom to see the ones in habitat). It is a beautiful Costus, great for its foliage as well as the flowers. I think the hardiness has been a little over-rated in the trade, some places say zone 8B but I doubt it is much hardier than zone 9B in a normal winter. But then with global warming..........
Dave Skinner
www.gingersrus.com
THANKS so much Dave. I really appreciate your expertise.
May I ask if you know the name of this too?
That one is actually Costus productus, although you will usually find it for sale under the incorrect name of Costus curvibracteatus. The true species Costus curvibracteatus was first named and described by Paul Maas in 1976. It is from Costa Rica and Panama wheras Costus productus is from Colombia and Peru. I have never seen the real Costus curvibracteatus in cultivation, but saw two different looking forms of it in the wild in Costa Rica this year.
Photos at http://www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=4317.
They look quite similar to Costus productus so it is no surprise that the mistake was made, many years ago in horticulture. The red-bracted form I found in the Tilaran Mountains (same area as Costus malortieanus, but at higher altitudes) looks especially like C. productus but there are technical differences in the flower parts and the ligules. I've discussed this with Chelsea Specht who is the botanist who recently reclassified Costaceae, and she agrees that the whole issue needs to be revisited. No one seems to know exactly where your plant originated, since it was put into cultivation so long ago, and all the ones in circulation are clones of a plant collected many years ago.
Dave Skinner
www.gingersrus.com
My goodness, you are THE MAN! I was looking at your great site too. Amazing!! Thank you for taking the time to explain this all to me.
I saw this flower at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. Is this even a ginger? It has the most amazing colors!
It's not a flower, it's the seeds ripening, after the blooms have been pollinated. They are beautiful aren't they? They are from ginger blooms.
Liz
Liz@gingerlandtropicals.com
Thanks Liz.
Do you know which giner it is, Liz?
It's a Hedychium ginger of some sort, but other than that I can't tell you anymore about it. Do you know the mature height or anything else about it? It might narrow it down a little bit.....Liz :)