Plant Datasheet for Costus dirzoi

Isotype: Collected in by Guillermo Ibarra Manríquez in Mexico, Veracruz, Mpio. San Andrés 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 líneas guindas. Nombre común. 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.