Plant Datasheet for Costus comosus

The type for this species is the illustration, Plate 202 from Jacquin's Icon. Pl. Rar. which was annotated on the print as Alpinia comosa. The collection this is based upon is from Venezuela, the herbarium specimen was destroyed in World War II. This illustration is consistent with the living plant I found at Santa Maria de Boyacá on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Colombia. Photos of that specimen are shown on this page. Other specimens are on the subsequent pages.

There are two formally described varieties - var. comosus and var. bakeri distinguished only by the hairiness on the upper surface of the leaves. Var. Comosus has densely puberulo-villose, never scabrid upper surfaces, whereas var. bakeri has "glabrous to sparsely strigose" upper leaf surfaces with bracts somewhat scabrid to the touch. In practice I have not found these varietal distinctions to be very important, and as with most Costus species, the hairiness tends to be quite variable within a species. Nevertheless I have attempted to separate the varieties on these pages, placing the Mexican plants I have seen in var. Bakeri and the others in var. Comosus or not ascribing varietal status at all where it is uncertain. Maas indicates generally that var.bakeri is found in northern Central America but var. comosus (including the form that was called C. maritimus) is found in Costa Rica and in Colombia-Venezuela. (Note the the plant mentioned by Maas in his 1977 updated monograph, located in Panama at Santa Fe is, in my opinion, NOT C. comosus but is a form of Costus ricus as evidenced by the bicarinate bracteole. )

ACCESSION NOTES:
R3308 is a form with clear red bracts and bract appendages with the wider triangular bracts, collected in Colombia at Santa Maria de Boyaca. I was unable to determine whether this is var. comosus or var. bakeri. The upper surface of the leaves is completely glabrous on some plants and somewhat puberulous on others. The bract appendages are not at all scabrous to the touch - they are completely smooth and glabrous. The lower side of the leaves is only minutely puberulous. The stems are quite thin (only about 1 cm in diameter even at the base) and the leaves are narrow (about 35 cm long by 6 cm wide). The inflorescence is quite small - less than 2 cm in width and height at maturity on the plants I have seen. The bracteole and calyx are yellow - not the normal red color found in most Costus spp.

OBSERVATION NOTES:

Santa María, Boyacá, Colombia, Latitude 4.85, Longitude -73.27, at meters elevation.

Punta Marenco, Drake area, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Latitude 8.684, Longitude -83.7106, at 5 meters elevation.

Los Mogos, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, Latitude 8.715, Longitude -83.435, at 5 meters elevation.

Quebrada trail, El Remanso Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Latitude 8.385, Longitude -83.311, at 70 meters elevation.

Pacific coast, Cabo Matapalo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Latitude 8.3796, Longitude -83.3, at 10 meters elevation.

Cabo Matapalo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Latitude 8.38266, Longitude -83.31, at 5 meters elevation.