This page contains photos and description of a species, form or cultivar of Costaceae.

Gingersrus Database Taxon ID 3789

Costus juruanus


OLD NAME: Costus productus

NEW NAME: Costus juruanus

NAME CHANGE NOTES: Maas found a duplicate of type for C. juruanus and is proposing to change all C. productus back to C. juruanus as in 1972 monograph.

FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME: Costus juruanus K.Schum.

STATUS : stat. nov.

CONTINENT: Neotropical

FIELD OBSERVATIONS:(If field observations are available, you can click on the link to open in a new window.)
FIELD OBSERVATIONS

PHOTOS:(If photos are available, you can click on the link to open in a new window.)
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SYNONYMS:
- Costus productus Gleason ex Maas var. strigosus (Maas) Maas (1976) - Costus productus Gleason ex Maas var. productus

BOTANICAL NOTES:
This species has had a history of name changes, back and forth. It was originally described by K. Schumann in 1904 in Engler's Das Pflanzenreich, Vol. IV, based on the collection in 1901 Brazil by the German explorer Ernst Ule. In 1972, Paul Maas in his monograph maintained the same name, but he chose a neotype for the species (Killip & Smith 25317 from Peru) because the type specimen had been destroyed in Berlin in 1943.

In 1976 Dr. Maas described and published a new species, Costus productus Gleason ex Maas based upon that neotype. In 1977 he explained that Costus juruanus had to be excluded and had to be changed to an "insufficiently known species", because only a photograph of the Berlin specimen existed and in that photograph the inflorescence was completely covered by one of the upper leaves. Since that time, these plants have been known as Costus productus and were believed to be endemic to Peru.

More recently, Dr. Maas found another specimen in Hamburg, Germany of the original Ule collection from Brazil, and was able to study it as he had been unable to do from a photograph of the Berlin specimen. This Ule collection was from the state of Acre, Brazil, somewhere along the upper Jurua-Mirim river. Dr. Maas had been there in 1971 but did not see this species, so he asked me to look for it during my planned trip to the region.

In April 2019, with the help of Professor Marcus Athaydes of the federal university in Cruzeiro do Sul, I found a nice population of this species, then known as Costus productus, and was able to document the details and confirm that the plants found there in Brazil were of the same species as those found in Peru and the name Costus juruanus could be reinstated for this species. My article about the search for this plant can be found in the Heliconia Society Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 1.

The species is generally described as a low plant between 0.3 and 1.5 meters tall, with a long (20-40 mm) two-lobed ligule. The inflorescence (normally terminal) is comprised of red appendaged bracts and tubular red to orange-red flowers. Maas says this species "is easily recognizable by a very well developed, obtusely lobed, often membranous ligule to 60 mm long, a red to orange (or rarely yellow) inflorescence in which the bracts are often reflexed and terminating into a small appendage, and tubular, mostly yellow flowers with red apical lobules of the labellum."

In the field, I have found this species to be incredibly polymorphic, and I expect that separate taxa will be eventually described either as subspecies, formal varieties, or even separate species. Some of these separate forms have been established as registered cultivars, and the details can be found at the links below:

DNA has been extracted from samples of each of these four forms from Peru, plus the 5th sample from the collection near the type locality in Acre, Brazil. All five samples were shown to be in a well supported separate lineage of closely related clades, clearly establishing all 5 as being part of the same species complex despite their morphological differences. The earliest of the lineages were the two from Madre de Dios and Puno in the south of Peru, then the form from Pasco, Peru with the cupped ligules and finally the two nearly identical forms (Acre, Brazil and San Martín, Peru) in the same clade thus showing the transitions from south to north. The whole genome of my accession R2693 (the commonly cultivated form) was sequenced in the Chelsea Specht Lab at Cornell University.

HORTICULTURAL NOTES:
Based on information at the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) this species is in ex situ cultivation at 17 botanical gardens world wide, listed under the old name Costus productus. I have found this species to be very easy to grow here and bring to flower. In cultivation, this species has often been incorrectly tagged as Costus curvibracteatus, and one form has been given an illegitimate cultivar name of Costus 'Barbatus Dwarf'. The most commonly cultivated form has bright orange inflorsescence with yellow-orange flowers and can make a beautiful garden plant, flowering very easily. The cultivar 'Emerald Chalice' is also widely cultivated and is spectacular with its bright red bracts and yellow flowers, and the interesting cupped ligules that give it the name 'Emerald Chalice'. A similar cultivar with reddish sheaths is known as 'Maroon Chalice'.

ACCESSIONS:Click links (if any) to see details of individual collections. R1945- R1947- R2693- R3415- R3488-


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Photos (if available) of Taxon ID 3789
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Costus juruanus, photo from Maas, Jana photo of 'Emerald Chalice' DSC05174a2.jpg - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 227 Accession# R0
Costus juruanus, photo from Maas, Jana photo of 'Emerald Chalice' DSC05174a2.jpg


Costus juruanus composite photo showing variation in ligules - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 230 Accession# R0
Costus juruanus composite photo showing variation in ligules


Costus juruanus type specimen - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 493 Accession# R0
Costus juruanus type specimen


Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2693, cultivated form - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 226 Accession# R2693
Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2693, cultivated form


Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2912, 'Emerald Chalice' - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 228 Accession# R2912
Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2912, 'Emerald Chalice'


Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2912, 'Emerald Chalice' - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 229 Accession# R2912
Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R2912, 'Emerald Chalice'


Costus juruanus, form with inflated ligules, photo from Skinner R3415, from Peru, Pasco - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 231 Accession# R3415
Costus juruanus, form with inflated ligules, photo from Skinner R3415, from Peru, Pasco


Costus juruanus 'Ruffles' plicate leaf form, photo from Skinner R3434, from Peru, Puno - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 232 Accession# R3434
Costus juruanus 'Ruffles' plicate leaf form, photo from Skinner R3434, from Peru, Puno


Costus juruanus 'Dazzler' form, photo from Skinner R3439, from Tambopata, Madre de Dios, Peru - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 233 Accession# R3439
Costus juruanus 'Dazzler' form, photo from Skinner R3439, from Tambopata, Madre de Dios, Peru


Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R3488, form of type from Rio Tarauaca, Acre, Brazil - Click to see full sized image
Photo# 234 Accession# R3488
Costus juruanus, photo from Skinner R3488, form of type from Rio Tarauaca, Acre, Brazil