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costus

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{For|the plant known in Ancient Rome as "costus"|Saussurea costus{{!}}Saussurea costus}}

{{Hatnote|See Catherine of Alexandria for the man named Costus often held to be her father.}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Costus pulverulentus.jpg

| image_caption = Costus pulverulentus in Costa Rica

| taxon = Costus

| authority = L.{{R|POWO}}

| synonyms_ref = {{R|POWO}}

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Costus is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, erected by Linnaeus in 1753.{{R|LINNAEUS|TROPICOS}} It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.{{R|POWO|FOC|SPECHT}}

Costus is often characterized and distinguished from relatives such as Zingiber (true ginger) by its spiraling stems. The genus as a whole is thus often called spiral gingers, but this can also refer to C. barbatus specifically.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} It is important not to confuse Costus scaber, C. spectabilis etc. with the herb known by the common name "costus".

Costus spectabilis is the floral emblem of Nigeria; its flowers are represented (erroneously in red instead of yellow color) on its coat of arms.{{cite web |title=The National Flower of Nigeria: Costus Spectabilis |website=Nigerian Embassy in Tel-Aviv, Israel |date=28 April 2019 |url=https://www.nigerianembassy.co.il/the-national-flower-of-nigeria-costus-spectabilis/ |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=19 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719113222/https://www.nigerianembassy.co.il/the-national-flower-of-nigeria-costus-spectabilis/ |url-status=live }}

Costus productus and Costus guanaiensis are among the species of Costus with edible flowers.{{cite web |title=Costus productus |url=https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/1/8/1863 |website=Flora & Fauna Web |access-date=4 August 2024}}{{cite web |title=Costus productus |url=https://ntbg.org/database/plants/detail/costus-productus |website=Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details |publisher=National Tropical Botanical Garden |access-date=4 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Fern |first1=Ken |title=Costus guanaiensis |url=https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Costus%20guanaiensis |website=Useful Tropical Plants Database |access-date=13 August 2024}} Other Costus species' flowers have also been determined to be edible.{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Arno |title=Edible Flowers |journal=Subtropical Gardening |volume=11 |pages=82–83 |url=https://stg-magazine.com/pdf/SP_Edible_Flowers.pdf}}{{cite journal |last1=Carle |first1=Alan |title=Costus flowers - a new delicacy? |journal=Heliconia Society International Bulletin |date=1995 |volume=7 |issue=4 |url=https://www.heliconia.org/_files/ugd/ef1aa2_466f1b9255614a8bbc0c29b0a98941b1.pdf}}

Some Costus species have traditional medicinal and veterinary uses. For example, in Trinidad and Tobago, a mix of Costus scaber juice and crushed Renealmia alpinia berries is used to treat dogs bitten by snakes.{{cite journal |last1=Lans |first1=Cheryl |last2=Harper |first2=Tisha |last3=Georges |first3=Karla |last4=Bridgewater |first4=Elmo |title=Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad |journal=BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine |date=2001 |volume=1 |issue=10 |page=10 |doi=10.1186/1472-6882-1-10|doi-access=free |pmid=11737880 |pmc=60997 }}

Costus naturally hybridizes, and commercial hybrids have also been produced.{{cite journal |last1=Skinner |first1=Dave |title=Ornamental Costus |journal=Campinas-Sp |date=2016 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=307–317 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/69904025/672.pdf}}

Species

{{As of|2024|06}}, Plants of the World Online recognises 115 species, as follows:{{R|POWO}}

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; Formerly placed here

Numerous other species have been called Costus over the years, but are now regarded as members of other genera. Such genera include Alpinia, Amomum, Caulokaempferia, Cheilocostus, Chamaecostus, Dimerocostus, Hellenia, Paracostus, Renealmia, Tapeinochilos, etc.{{cite web |title=Costus L., Sp. Pl.: 2 (1753) |url=https://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=234548 |website=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713021710/https://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=234548 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |url-status=dead}}{{Failed verification|reason= |date=June 2024}}

Gallery

File:Starr 070306-5217 Costus comosus.jpg|Costus comosus

File:Palmengarten fg20.jpg|Costus dubius

File:Costus malortieanus H.Wendl. - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras.jpg|Costus malortieanus

File:Costus productus Gleason ex Maas - Peru.jpg|Costus productus

File:Spiralingwer (Costus dubius).jpg|Costus dubius

References

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{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:329965-2 |title=Costus L. |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |year=2024 |access-date=2 June 2024}}

{{cite book |last1=Linnaeus |first1=Carl von |title=Species plantarum |date=1753 |publisher=Laurentii Salvii |location=Stockholm |page=2 |volume=1 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358023 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.669 |language=Latin}}

{{cite web |title=Costus L. |url=http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/40015204 |website=Tropicos |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |access-date=2 June 2024}}

{{cite web |title=Costus L. |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=108165 |website=Flora of China (eFloras) |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. |year=2008 |access-date=3 June 2024}}

{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/25065537 |jstor=25065537 |title=A New Phylogeny-Based Generic Classification of Costaceae (Zingiberales) |last1=Specht |first1=Chelsea D. |last2=Stevenson |first2=Dennis Wm |journal=Taxon |date=2006 |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=153–163 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1v06n4pb }}

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Category:Zingiberales genera