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PLANT FAMILY: Costaceae BOTANICAL NAME: Costus dirzoi FORMAL SCIENTIFIC NAME: Costus dirzoi GarcĂa-Mend. & G.Ibarra STATUS :Accepted CONTINENT: Neotropical SYNONYMS:
BOTANICAL NOTES: This is an accepted neo-tropical Costus species from Mexico, newly described and published in 1991. Based on the description and photos from Belgium National Botanical Garden, it seems to be very close to Costus pictus. Isotype is at Missouri Botanical Gardens. This seems to show a basal inflorescence.Isotype: Collected in by Guillermo Ibarra ManrĂquez in Mexico, Veracruz, Mpio. San AndrĂ©s Tuxtla. Tropical Los Tuxtlas. Selva alta perennifolia at 200 meters. 18.56N, 95.06W LISTING AT: Missouri Botanical Garden - IMAGE AT MOBOT Costus dirzoi Garcia-Mendoza & Ibarra-Manriquez, Published in: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 18(4): 1081. 1991. {Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. ; BPH 107.17} Type - specimen(s) IT: G. Ibarra-Manriquez 3400, 22 May 1989, Mexico: Veracruz: Mpio. San Andres Tuxtla; Estacion de Biologia Tropical Los Tuxtlas (MO). Described there as "Specimen data: Herbacea perenne, 0.5-1.5(-2.2) m; inflorescencia con bracteas verdes, rojas en la base. Flores amarillas, labelo con lĂneas guindas. Nombre comĂșn. caña agria." translated .5-1.5 meters, bracts green, red at base, flowers yellow, labellum with [pendent?] lines common name "Sour Cane". GINGERSRUS CATALOG LISTING: This Mexican species from Veracruz is closely related to Costus pictus, but it is a shorter plant with broad, plicate leaves. In nature it usually flowers at the base on a leafless stem but in cultivation often flowers at the top as well. I have only had it a short time so it has not been tested for cold hardiness but the director of the Los Tuxtlos Biological Research Center told me it flowers in the dry season there, so I am guessing it will be cold hardy like Costus pictus.
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