GENUS Cheilocostus

And of course... now that the name Cheilocostus has finally sunk in, some taxonomists have discovered an earlier name that they say, according to the rules, must replace Cheilocostus. In 2013 an article was published in Phytotaxa explaining that the type species selected for the new genus (C. speciosus) was known by an earlier name (Banksea speciosa) which in turn was based on an even earlier genus name, Hellenia, such that the new genus name of Cheilocostus must now be changed to Hellenia. If you want to read the entire convoluted story of this, CLICK HERE.

However, there is currently a proposal put forth by Jana Leong-Skornikova to conserve the name Cheilocostus instead of changing the genus to Hellenia. In a 2022 article published in PhytoKeys 190: 103-111, this is explained as follows:

Specht and Stevenson (2006) overlooked the availability of two older names, Hellenia Retz. and Tsiana J.F.Gmel., both equally eligible for the clade of Asian Costaceae and proposed a new generic name, Cheilocostus. Govaerts (2013), while trying to fix the above mistake, unfortunately also overlooked the equally available Tsiana and proposed to use Hellenia Retz., without realising that it may very easily be confused with Hellenia Willd. which, although illegitimate, was used in the sister family Zingiberaceae for numerous species currently subsumed under Alpinia Roxb. Leong-Skornikova and Sida (2016), therefore, put forward a proposal to conserve Cheilocostus, which, since 2006, quickly gained very wide usage. In line with our proposal, we, therefore, continue to uphold the genus Cheilocostus until the decision by the Nomenclatural Committee of Vascular Plants is reached.

Meanwhile, I am keeping these species listings under Cheilocostus as the "Old Name" but listing Hellenia as the "New Name".

Cheilocostus (a/k/a Hellenia) is very much in need of further study by taxonomists as there are only a few accepted species, two of which are quite widespread and variable (C. speciosus and C. globosus) and have been treated as complexes that may eventually be divided into separate species or subspecies. Most recently, a group of Chinese and Vietnamese botanists have published a paper in the journal Plant Diversity that establishes a new genus Parahellenia and describes new species in that new genus which will be listed on a separate page of my website.

Thus the Asian Costaceae are now split into four different genera as follows:

1. Paracostus - Plants prostrate; leaves few or solitary; inflorescence few-flowered; bracts inconspicuous
2. Tapeinochilos - Plants erect or slightly spiral; leaves many; inflorescence manyflowered; bracts conspicuous AND Ovary bilocular; labellum small, inconspicuous
3. Parahellenia - Plants erect or slightly spiral; leaves many; inflorescence manyflowered; bracts conspicuous AND Ovary bilocular; labellum small, inconspicuous AND Inflorescence arising on a leafless shoot from the rhizome; bracts laxly imbricate, bilamellate stigma with two equal lobes; leaf blades mostly glabrous
4. Hellenia f/k/a Cheilocostus - Plants erect or slightly spiral; leaves many; inflorescence manyflowered; bracts conspicuous AND Ovary bilocular; labellum small, inconspicuous AND Inflorescence terminal on leafy shoot; bracts densely imbricate; bilamellate stigma with one lobe larger than the other one; lower side of the leaf blades pubescent