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Spiral Flag

Costus pictus

Spiral Flag
Photo: Benoit Blanchard, CC BY-SA 3.0

Costus pictus, the spiral flag or painted spiral ginger, is a tropical rhizomatous plant from Mexico and Central America grown for its spiral leaves and red-bracted flowers. It needs warmth, humidity and moist but well-drained soil.

Family
Costaceae (Cost family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep soil evenly moist during growth and reduce watering in winter.
Soil
Rich, peaty, well-drained potting mix.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Native range
Mexico to C. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Costus pictus, known as painted spiral ginger or spotted spiral ginger, is a species of plant in the Costaceae family. Its native range is Mexico to Central America.

Costus pictus is winter-hardy in north Florida.

Other Costus plants

Spiral Ginger · Costus barbatus · Costus chartaceus · Costus claviger · Red Tower Ginger · Costus curvibracteatus · Costus · Costus erythrophyllus · Costus geothyrsus · Costus longibracteolatus · Costus louisii · African Spiral Flag

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Costus pictus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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