For the plant known in Ancient Rome as "costus", see Saussurea costus.
See Catherine of Alexandria for the man named Costus often held to be her father.
Costus
TaxonCostus
AuthorityL.[1]
Synonyms

Costus is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, described by Linnaeus in 1753.[2][3] It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.[1][4][5]

Costus is often characterized and distinguished from relatives such as Zingiber (true ginger) by its spiraling stems. The genus as a whole is thus often called spiral gingers, but this can also refer to C. barbatus specifically.[citation needed] It is important not to confuse Costus scaber, C. spectabilis etc. with the herb known by the common name "costus".

Costus spectabilis is the floral emblem of Nigeria; its flowers are represented (erroneously in red instead of yellow color) on its coat of arms.[6]

Costus productus and Costus guanaiensis are among the species of Costus with edible flowers.[7][8][9] Other Costus species' flowers have also been determined to be edible.[10][11]

Some Costus species have traditional medicinal and veterinary uses. For example, in Trinidad and Tobago, a mix of Costus scaber juice and crushed Renealmia alpinia berries is used to treat dogs bitten by snakes.[12]

Costus naturally hybridizes, and commercial hybrids have also been produced.[13]

Species

As of June 2024, Plants of the World Online recognises 115 species, as follows:[1]

Formerly placed here

Numerous other species have been called Costus over the years, but are now regarded as members of other genera. Such genera include Alpinia, Amomum, Caulokaempferia, Cheilocostus, Chamaecostus, Dimerocostus, Hellenia, Paracostus, Renealmia, Tapeinochilos, etc.[14][failed verification]

References

  1. ^ "Costus L.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl von (1753). Species plantarum (in Latin). Vol. 1. Stockholm: Laurentii Salvii. p. 2. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.669
  3. ^ "Costus L.". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Costus L.". Flora of China (eFloras). Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  5. ^ Specht, Chelsea D. & Stevenson, Dennis Wm (2006). "A New Phylogeny-Based Generic Classification of Costaceae (Zingiberales)". Taxon. 55 (1): 153–163. doi:10.2307/25065537. JSTOR 25065537
  6. ^ "The National Flower of Nigeria: Costus Spectabilis". Nigerian Embassy in Tel-Aviv, Israel. 28 April 2019. Archived 19 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Costus productus". Flora & Fauna Web. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Costus productus". Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details. National Tropical Botanical Garden. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  9. ^ Fern, Ken. "Costus guanaiensis". Useful Tropical Plants Database. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  10. ^ King, Arno. "Edible Flowers". Subtropical Gardening. 11: 82–83.
  11. ^ Carle, Alan (1995). "Costus flowers - a new delicacy?". Heliconia Society International Bulletin. 7 (4)
  12. ^ Lans, Cheryl; Harper, Tisha; Georges, Karla; Bridgewater, Elmo (2001). "Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 1 (10): 10. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-1-10. PMC 60997. PMID 11737880
  13. ^ Skinner, Dave (2016). "Ornamental Costus". Campinas-Sp. 22 (3): 307–317.
  14. ^ "Costus L., Sp. Pl.: 2 (1753)". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019.