Plant Datasheet for Costus 'Tico Sunrise'

Cultivar Registry Photo at http://www.gingersrus.com/Registry/Costus_TicoSunrise.jpg

ACCESSION NOTES:
R2827 received from Tom Wood incorrectly tagged as Costus guanaiensis. This collection has been vouchered at the UC Berkeley, Jepsen Herbarium, UC2045828.

GINGERSRUS CATALOG LISTING:
What a pleasant surprise this one was when it first bloomed for me. I received it labeled as a form of Costus guanaiensis, but it clearly is NOT! It does not have any of the characteristics of that species - no appendages to the bracts and certainly not the typical C. guanaiensis flower. I conferred with Costus expert, Dr. Chelsea Specht, and she agrees it is something entirely different, either a new species or perhaps a hybrid. It has some similarity to Costus spicatus but difficult to say. I just had to share some of these, so I thought I had better give it a name. When I look at this, I see a bright orange (the corolla) sun rising from a deep red sky (the bracts) and then shining yellow as it rises (the labellum). I know it is from the neo-tropics, and possibly from Costa Rica, so I gave it the name 'Tico Sunrise'.

The foliage is definately tropical with huge leaves, very thick stems and growing to a height of about 6-7 feet in my garden. It seems to bloom pretty easily compared to many Costus. I grow it in about 4-5 hours direct sun in very rich, moist, organic soil. It seems to be fairly hardy as it has come back strong for several years in my Tallahassee (officially zone 8B) garden and bloomed in the same season.