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(Last Modified On 10/29/2012)
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(Last Modified On 10/29/2012)
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Species
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COSTUS SPICATUS (Jacq.) Sw.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Prodr. Ind. Occ. 11. 1788.
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Synonym
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Alkinia spicata Jacq. Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist. pI. I. 1763. Costus conicus Stokes, Mat. Med. 1:75. 1812.
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Description
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Plants relatively slender, 1-3 m. tall, the stems somewhat spiral; leaves obovate to oblanceolate, narrowly and usually rather abruptly acuminate, base cuneate, 9-30 cm. long, 3-12 cm. broad, glaucous, the margins ferruginous-ciliolate, otherwise glabrous, very shortly petiolate; inflorescence spssile, set amongst the upper reduced leaves, broadly ovoid to cylindrical, 5-14 cm. long; bracts un- appendaged or the lowermost somewhat leaf-like, broadly ovate, obtuse, 2-3 cm. long, orange with a yellowish linear callus, glabrous or indefinitely papillate; calyx 0.5 cm. long, broadly 3-dentate, pale yellow flushed with pink at the tips; ovary 0.4 cm. long; corolla 2-3 cm. long, orange-yellow, the lobes obovate- oblong; labellum 3.0-3.5 cm. long, yellow; stamen about equalling the labellum.
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Distribution
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Antilles; Costa Rica to Caribbean Colombia, chiefly in lowland thickets and open forest.
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Specimen
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BOCAS DEL TORO: Nievecita, Woodson, Allen & Seibert I95I. CHIRIQUI: San Bartolome, Woodson & Schery 922; Quebrada Velo, Woodson & Schery 282.
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Note
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Great uncertainty has attended the application of C. spicatus, C. cylindricus, and C. spiralis. The plants cited above coincide well with authoritative icones, but, because of the current confusion of names, it is difficult to assign the exact range of the species. C. spicatus apparently hybridizes with C. nutans in the Pacific foothills (Woodson & Schery 282).
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