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Neo-Tropical Costus
Dave Skinner
www.gingersrus.com
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Bract Types Appendaged Not Appendaged
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Bract Colors
Red Bracts Green, Yellow, Orange
Exposed part vs. covered
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Terminal or Basal Inflorescence Basal Inflorescence Terminal
Inflorescence
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Flower Types Tubular Not Tubular
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Flower Parts Calyx Length
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Bracteole Types Boat Shaped Bicarinate
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Ligule Length and Shape
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Other Characters
• Leaf base (cordate, cuneate, rounded, etc)
• Leaf apex (long or short acuminate)
• Leaf dimensions and size (linear vs. wide)
• Bract margins (fibrous or entire)
• Indument (hairiness) NOTE: this tends to
be variable within most species!
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Four Main Categories
• Non-Appendaged Bracts with Tubular
Flowers
• Non-Appendaged Bracts with Non-Tubular
Flowers
• Appendaged Bracts with Tubular Flowers
• Appendaged Bracts with Non-Tubular
Flowers
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Costus species with
Non-Appendaged Bracts
and
Tubular Flowers
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Costus scaber (cultivated plant)
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The “real” Costus spicatus (Tagged C. cylindricus at Smithsonian)
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Costus scaber from Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
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Costus scaber from Cerro Nara, Costa Rica
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Costus scaber near Gualaquiza, Ecuador
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Costus woodsonii near Parque Nacionál Cahuita, Costa Rica
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Parque Nacionál Cahuita, Costa Rica
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Costus wilsonii (photo above by Kathleen Kay
photo to the right taken at)
Reserva Durika
Cord. de Talamanca
(2000 meters)
Costa Rica
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Costus pulverulentus cultivated plant
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Costus pulverulentus near Parque Nacionál La Cangreja Costa Rica
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Costus pulverulentus in Ecuador
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Costus pulverulentus (X villosissimus?)
near Rancho Mastatal Costa Rica
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Costus chartaceus Costus erythrothyrsus cultivated plants
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Costus plicatus Costus lasius Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
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Costus stenophyllus Estación La Gamba Costa Rica
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Costus vinosus at Marie Selby Gardens
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Costus species with
Non-Appendaged Bracts
and
Non-Tubular Flowers
(Broad Labellum)
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Costus laevis (Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica)
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Costus laevis with characteristic
silvery midrib on young foliage
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Costus laevis near Pocosol, Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica
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Costus laevis with orange flower near Rancho Mastatal, Costa Rica
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Costus pictus (cultivated plants)
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Costus arabicus (cultivated plant)
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Costus amazonicus near Gualaquiza,
Morona-Santiago Province, Ecuador
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Costus malortieanus in Cord. de Tilarán near Poco Sol
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Cerro Nara Costus glaucus Osa Peninsula
P.N. La Cangreja
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Costus species with
Appendaged Bracts
and
Tubular Flowers
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Costus barbatus (hort. at Marie Selby Gardens)
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Maas’description does not fit this plant!
1. The ligules are short and truncate - Maas describes as 15-40 mm) and lobed
2. It is often found producing BASAL instead of terminal inflorescences.
3. The margins of the bracts, bracteoles and calyx are entire, NOT “delacerating into fibers”
4. The corolla lobes of the plant in horticulture are NOT puberulous, a character of the real Costus barbatus, but rarely found in Costus
5. None of the plant parts are particularly hairy, as mentioned to distinguish this from Costus montanus.
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Costus montanus near P. N. Tapantí, Costa Rica
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Costus curvibracteatus Rio Piro, Costa Rica
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Costus aff. curvibracteatus near Poco Sol, Cord. de Tilarán, Costa Rica
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Costus lima Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
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Costus aff. Lima (hybrid?) Rio Rincon, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
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Costus ricus Cerro Nara, Costa Rica
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Boat Shaped Bracteole Bicarinate (2 keeled) Bracteole
Costus lima Costus ricus
Comparison of Bracteole Types
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Costus osae in P. N. Piedras Blancas Rio Bonito and Quebrada Negra
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Costus sp. Cabo Matapalo
on the southern tip of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
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Costus sp. Cabo Matapalo habitat
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Costus species with
Appendaged Bracts
and
Non-Tubular Flowers
(Broad Labellum)
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Costus
guanaiensis (various locations in
Costa Rica)
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Costus guanaiensis
var. guanaiensis
(photos from Ecuador and Colombia)
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Costus guanaiensis
var. macrostrobilus (?) (Ecuador, near Reserva Bilsa)
Costus guanaiensis
var. tarmicus (common in Ecuador)
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Costus guanaiensis (plicate leaf form found at Reserva Bilsa, Ecuador)
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Costus sp. found near
Guayzimi, Zamora, Ecuador
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Costus bracteatus near Shiroles, Costa Rica
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Costus erythrophyllus (cultivated plant)
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Costus varzearum (Lyon Arboretum)
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(above from near Pachijal, Ecuador)
Costus leucanthus (right from Waimea Arboretum)
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Costus longebracteolatus (cultivated plant)
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Costus villosissimus (near Rancho Mastatal, Costa Rica)
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Costus asplundii Lyon Arboretum
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Unidentified Costus
Two Possible New Species from
Cordillera del Condor area
Southern Ecuador
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Basal flowering Costus from Rio Nangaritza
Cord. del Condor area of southern Ecuador
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Costus from Rio Numbaime
Cord. del Condor area of southern Ecuador
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