Plant Datasheet for Costus nitidus

- Holotype: collected in 1974 by Paul Maas and J. Cramer in Cartago, forested hills of Río Reventazón, near grounds of LICA (now CATIE), Turialba.

In 2014 I completed an IUCN Red List assessment for this species and it is now classified as Endangered. My assessment rationale can be found at http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/56347808/0.

In 2006 - I found a Costus believed to be Costus nitidus with mature inflo (no flowers) along trail close to station at Hitoy-Cerere Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. Inflo. 15 cm tall by 5? cm wide, light green bracts, leaves 45 cm long by 5.5 cm wide, glabrous, greyish color undersides, ligule long lobed 3.5 cm, petiole 1 cm, all glabrous. Parts photographed, bracts whitish underneath, exposed part greenish, bracteoles and calyx white, all glabrous. Bracts 4 cm long by 3 cm wide, not appendaged. Bracteole 2.3 cm long by .2 cm wide, calyx .6 by .6 cm, shallow lobed. I found another specimen believed to be Costus nitidus along the trail up Cerro Mirador, which runs between Shiroles and the Valle de Estrella, in the same region as Hitoy-Cerere. This plant was tall and the vegetative parts were similar to the one seen at Hitoy-Cerere, but the bracts were bright red with very distinct and long yellow-green nectar calluses. The inflo. was over 20 cm in length. There were no flowers. The ligules were long and lobed like the other specimen. I was unable to photograph the bracteoles and calyx. Both specimens had large shiny leaves. Upon later flowering I have been able to verify the first one as Costus nitidus.

In July and in September 2016 I visited the type locality for this species at the organization CATIE near Turrialba, Costa Rica. I found a plant, not in flower, that I believe will turn out to be the type form of Costus nitidus.

ACCESSION NOTES:
R3088 is from Hitoy-Cerere in Costa Rica. This collection has been vouchered at the UC Berkeley, Jepsen Herbarium, UC2045807.

R3365 collected stem cutting at CATIE, growing well as of January 2017.

OBSERVATION NOTES:

CATIE, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica, Latitude 9.839795481, Longitude -83.7181525, at meters elevation.

Reserva Hitoy Cerere, Limón Province, Costa Rica, Latitude 9.614860848, Longitude -83.12386865, at 200 meters elevation.

GINGERSRUS CATALOG LISTING:
This species is rarely found even in its native habitat on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and parts of Panama. It has tall stright upright stems with glistening shiny leaves. The bracts are reddish and the flowers yellow, very much like the Pacific-side Costus plicatus differing mainly by the leaves.

Growing in large pots, it gets about 10 feet tall and flowers dependably for me. It has strong stems that do not tend to fall over like some gingers.