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Costus scaber
Also called Spiral Head Ginger
Indian Head Ginger (Costus scaber) is a rhizomatous tropical plant from Mexico to tropical America, grown in homegardens and used in folk medicine. It thrives in warm, humid, shaded conditions with moist, well-drained soil.
Costus scaber is a species of plant in the family Costaceae. Its native range is Mexico to Tropical America.
In Costa Rica, Costus scaber is grown in homegardens and used to treat multiple medical conditions. In Trinidad, it is used as an ingredient in treating dogs for snakebite.
Spiral Ginger · Costus barbatus · Costus chartaceus · Red Tower Ginger · Costus curvibracteatus · Costus erythrophyllus · African Spiral Flag · Costus malortieanus · Red Rose Ginger · Costus productus · Spiral ginger · Spiked spiralflag
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Costus scaber 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.
