Costus productus is a rhizomatous ginger from wet tropical forests of Colombia and Peru, grown for its orange tulip-like flowers. It needs warm, humid, shaded to part-shaded conditions with steady moisture.
Family
Costaceae (Cost family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep soil evenly moist during the growing season and reduce watering in winter.
Soil
Rich, loose, well-draining mix with added organic matter.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
S. Colombia, Peru
Climate
wet tropical
About
Costus productus, known as orange tulip ginger, dwarf orange ginger, or green mountain spiral flag, is a species of plant in the Costaceae family. Costus productus is native to South Colombia and Peru.
Costus productus var. strigosis is a hairy variety from southern Colombia, while Costus productus var. productus is a smooth variety from Peru. The cultivated forms of Costus productus are all C. productus var. productus, and there are several different cultivars.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Costus productus 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.