Costus spicatus
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{italic title}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Spiked spiralflag ginger
Indian head ginger
|image = Bunga pacing pentul. Costus spicatus.jpg
|image_caption = Costus spicatus in Singapore
|genus = Costus
|species = spicatus
|authority = Jacq.
|synonyms = *Alpinia spicata
- Costus cylindricus
|}}
Costus spicatus, also known as spiked spiralflag ginger or Indian head ginger, is a species of herbaceous plant in the Costaceae family (also sometimes placed in Zingiberaceae).{{GRIN | accessdate= 2010-12-25}}
Distribution
Costus spicatus is native to some islands of the Caribbean (including Dominica, Guadeloupe, Hispaniola, Martinique, and Puerto Rico).{{cite web|author=United States Department of Agriculture|year= |url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=COSP4 |title=PLANTS Profile for Costus spicatus (spiked spiralflag) |work=USDA Plants | publisher=United States Department of Agriculture|accessdate= 2010-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224135322/http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=COSP4 |archive-date=24 February 2016}}{{cite web |title=Costus spicatus (Jacq.) Sw.|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:329964-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanical Gardens Kew |access-date=3 August 2024}} There has been some confusion about the native range of Costus spicatus.{{cite journal |last1=Rojas-Sandoval |first1=Julissa |last2=Acevedo-Rodríguez |first2=Pedro |title=Costus spicatus (spiked spiralflag ginger) |website=CABI Digital Library |url=https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.119443 |doi=10.1079/cabicompendium.119443 |date=2015 |access-date=4 August 2024|doi-access=free }} Kew Botanical Gardens lists it as native to Mexico. It has been described as exotic{{cite web |title=Untitled |url=https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/WestIndies/getonerecord_Emu.cfm?ID=11265 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=4 August 2024}} or native to Cuba. Costus spicatus is possibly invasive in lower montane rainforests on Saint Lucia, where botanist Roger Graveson considers it to be an escaped exotic.{{cite book |last1=Andrew |first1=Gaspard Michael |last2=John |first2=Lyndon |title=National Invasive Species Strategy for Saint Lucia |date=2010 |url=https://caribbeaninvasives.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NISS-Terrestrial-Ecosystems-final-2010.pdf |access-date=4 August 2024}}{{cite book |last1=Graveson |first1=Roger |title=Plant Taxonomy of Saint Lucia |date=2009 |publisher=FCG International Ltd |url=https://bananatrustslu.com/doccentre/National_Forest_Demarcation/Plant%20Taxonomy%20of%20Saint%20Lucia.pdf |access-date=4 August 2024}}
Description
Costus spicatus leaves grow to a length of approximately {{convert|1|ft|cm|abbr=on}} and a width of approximately {{Convert|4|in|cm|abbr=on}}. It produces a short red cone, from which red-orange flowers emerge one at a time.{{cite web|author=Top Tropicals Botanical Garden|year= 2010|url=http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/COSTUS_SPICATus.htm |title=Costus spicatus, Alpinia spicata, Spiked Spiralflag | publisher=|accessdate= 2010-12-25}} In botanical literature, Costus woodsonii has often been misidentified as Costus spicatus.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst. 2005. Costus spicatus is also similar in appearance to Costus scaber and Costus spiralis.{{cite journal |last1=Skinner |first1=Dave |title=Costus of the Golfo Dulce Region |journal=Heliconia Society International Bulletin |date=October 2008 |volume=14 |issue=4 |url=https://www.gingersrus.com/publications/HSI-Oct2008.pdf |access-date=3 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Skinner |first1=Dave |title=Costus Scaber and Affinities |url=https://www.gingersrus.com/botanical/aff-scaber/ |website=GingersRus |access-date=3 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Skinner |first1=Dave |title=Costus Scaber |url=https://www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=3607 |website=GingersRus |access-date=3 August 2024}}
Cultivation
Ecology
Costus spicatus can develop a symbiotic partnership with certain species of ants (often only a single species of ant will be compatible). The ants are provided with a food source (nectar in C. spicatus flowers) as well as a place to construct a nest. In turn, the ants protect developing seeds from herbivorous insects.
Use
Costus spicatus has several traditional uses. According to the Lacandon Maya, Costus spicatus increases soil fertility, is edible, and is a medicine.{{cite book |last1=Volkow |first1=Lucía Pérez |title=Filling Gender Gaps: Determining How Traditional Knowledge Of Lacandon Maya Women Shape The Diet And The Landscape In Lacanja Chansayab, Mexico |date=2020 |publisher=State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry ProQuest Dissertations & Theses |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2627681436}} Other groups also use it in traditional medicine. The Totonac people use Costus spicatus to treat kidney problems and hepatitis.{{cite journal |last1=Reimers |first1=EAL |last2=Fernández |first2=EC |last3=Reimers |first3=DJL |last4=Chaloupkova |first4=P |last5=Del Valle |first5=JMZ |last6=Milella |first6=L |last7=Russo |first7=D |title=An Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants Used in Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico |journal=Plants |date=2019 |volume=8 |issue=8 |page=246 |doi=10.3390/plants8080246|doi-access=free |pmid=31344952 |hdl=11563/138542 |hdl-access=free }} In Trinidad, it has been used to treat sexually transmitted infections.{{cite journal |last1=Wong |first1=Wesley |title=Some Folk Medicinal Plants From Trinidad |journal=Economic Botany |date=1976 |volume=30 |pages=103–142 |doi=10.1007/BF02862958}} In São Tomé, it is known to be used as a diuretic.{{cite journal |last1=Moraes |first1=Luiz L. C. |last2=Freitas |first2=João L. |last3=Filho |first3=João R. Matos |last4=Silva |first4=Raullyan B. L. |last5=Borges |first5=César H. A. |last6=Santos |first6=Adriano C. |title=Ethno-knowledge of medicinal plants in a community in the eastern Amazon |journal=Revista de Ciências Agrárias |date=2019 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=565-573 |doi=10.19084/rca.15625}}
In Dominican folk medicine, an herbal tea made from the leaves of C. spicatus is used for diabetes (hyperglycemia). However, a 2009 study concluded that C. spicatus tea "...had no efficacy in the treatment of obesity-induced hyperglycemia."{{cite journal |vauthors=Keller AC, Vandebroek I, Liu Y, Balick MJ, Kronenberg F, Kennelly EJ, Brillantes AM |title=Costus spicatus tea failed to improve diabetic progression in C57BLKS/J db/db mice, a model of type 2 diabetes mellitus |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=121 |issue=2 |pages=248–54 |date=January 2009 |pmid=19027842 |doi= 10.1016/j.jep.2008.10.025 |pmc=2643842}}