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

Gingersrus Database Taxon ID 7852

Costus asplundii


OLD NAME: Costus asplundii - red bract form

NEW NAME: Costus asplundii

NAME CHANGE NOTES: beautiful form in cultivation from northeastern Ecuador with red bracts and pink to red flowers

FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME:

STATUS : distinct form

CONTINENT:

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

PHOTOS:(If photos are available, you can click on the link to open in a new window.)

SYNONYMS:


BOTANICAL NOTES:
This is the form most common in cultivation of the species Costus asplundii. It is the form with reddish brown sheaths, very narrow leaves with purple undersides and inflorescences with reddish colored bracts and pink flowers. I am setting up this page separate from the main page for Costus asplundii because I believe it may well prove to be a separate species.

In 2022 I visited the type locality for Costus asplundii at Mera, Pastaza, Ecuador, and found that the type is the form with green bracts and nearly pure white flowers, much like the ones I had seen farther south in the Rio Nangaritze watershed. Just a short distance to the north in Napo province this green bract form is NOT found but the red bract form is. This is also confirmed in by several Inaturalist observations.

In our molecular phylogeny at Cornell University the sampling to date has only included 2 samples from Putumayo, Colombia. Further sampling of this form from Napo and the type from Mera, Pastaza is needed.

HORTICULTURAL NOTES:
This red bract form is widely cultivated in botanical gardens from a Plowman accession that came from Napo in Ecuador.

ACCESSIONS:Click links (if any) to see details of individual collections. R2966- R2976- R3532-


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Photos (if available) of Taxon ID 7852