Here's another I had not seen in flower before. It is not nearly as pretty as C. asplundii, but still not too bad. The bracts are red, but covered with green leafy appendages - somewhat similar to Costus villosissimus, but not so hairy, flowers white instead of yellow. This one was at the Waimea Audubon Center on the north shore of Oahu. This place has quite a history, used to be the Waimea Arboretum, then someone tried to make it like a theme park, and now the National Audubon Society has taken over. For anyone going to Hawaii, that is a great place to see gingers as they are all together in one large area and the names are clearly shown on large plastic signs. David Orr is the botanical program manager there, and he really tries to keep things organized and preserve the collections. He was awarded the annual Star Award from the Center for Plant Conservation for his efforts to conserve many rare native Hawaian plant collections through all the turmoil and changes there at Waimea.
More photos of Costus leucanthus at http://www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=3603
Dave Skinner
www.gingersrus.com
Flower of Costus leucanthus
