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Costus woodsonii
Also called Red Button Ginger, Scarlet Spiral Ginger
In Singapore: Scarlet Spiral Flag, Red Button Ginger (Grown in Singapore)
Costus woodsonii is a rhizomatous perennial ginger relative from Central America and northwest Colombia, grown for its spiral red bracts and flowers that appear through much of the year. It does best in warm, humid conditions with steady moisture.
Costus woodsonii, the red button ginger or scarlet spiral flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae, native to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. A rhizomatous geophytic perennial, it is recommended for coastal gardens, borders, containers, and general wet, tropical garden applications. It is more widely cultivated than other species of Costus. Costus woodsonii was first described by Paul Maas in 1972 and is named for Robert Woodson of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Costus woodsonii flowers all year round. Unlike other Costaceae, Costus woodsonii can grow in sandy, coastal areas.
The inflorescence of C. woodsonii has bracts that produce extrafloral nectar. This nectar attracts ants that interfere with oviposition by herbivores of the plant. White-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) eat Costus woodsonii.
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 · Indian Head Ginger
[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 woodsonii 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.
