Gingersrus Database Taxon ID 7631Costus mollissimusOLD NAME: Costus sp. nov. NEW NAME: Costus mollissimus NAME CHANGE NOTES: New species published March 22, 2023 in PhytoKeys 222: 75-127, from Mexico similar to C. macrostrobilus (f/k/a guanaiensis) FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME: Costus mollissimus Maas & H.Maas STATUS : sp. 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.) GOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM SYNONYMS: BOTANICAL NOTES: Costus mollissimus was published March 22, 2023 in PhytoKeys 222: 75-127. It is described from specimens found only in Mexico in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tobasco and Veracruz. The plants look very much like Costus pictus except for the bracts which have triangular shaped leafy appendages which spread horizontally out from the bracts. It is also characterized by the velutinous indument on most parts of the plant and by a very short ligule much like Costus pictus. Dr. Maas selected as the holotype a collection by Ishiki et al 2400, but this has apparently been lost in the herbarium at Leiden, so he is planning to select an alternate type specimen. Living plants from the collection are growing at Burgers Bush in the Netherlands, and a propagation from it is growing and regularly flowering in my garden, accession R3404. I have found two observations of this new species on inaturalist.org, both located about 8 km southwest of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico in the "Zona Arqueológica Palenque.
This new species is also growing at the Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium, and additional photos can be seen at http://www.br.fgov.be/research/COLLECTIONS/LIVING/LIVCOL/list/n_2011002380.html A partial phylogeny was completed by Eugenio Valderrama and his associates in the Chelsea Specht Lab at Cornell University and was published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science in September 2022. Leaf tissue from my R3404 (grown from the Maas collection in The Netherlands) has been analyzed and has been found to be in a separate clade close to Costus dirzoi but well separated from the similar looking Costus macrostrobilus, thus confirming Dr. Maas' diagnosis as being closely related to C. dirzoi.
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