Description
Family Costaceae
Herbs perennial
, terrestrial
, not aromatic
, with fleshy
rhizomes. Stems usually simple
, often long, terete
, sometimes spirally contorted, leafy; secondary branches (if present) breaking through leaf sheaths
. Leaves spirally arranged
, simple, those toward base
of stem usually bladeless; leaf sheath tubular, closed
; ligule present; petiole
short; leaf blade
narrowly to broadly elliptic
, rolled longitudinally in bud, glabrous
or hairy
, margin
entire. Inflorescence a conelike spike, terminal
on leafy shoots
or on separate, short, leafless shoots arising from rhizomes; bracts imbricate, with linear
, nectariferous
callus below apex, 1- or 2-flowered; bracteoles tubular
or folded. Flowers bisexual
, epigynous
, zygomorphic. Calyx tubular, 2- or 3-lobed or -toothed. Corolla proximally tubular, distally 3-lobed; lobes
unequal, imbricate in bud. Staminodes 5, united
into a labellum equaling or much longer
than corolla, often 3-lobed with crisped
margin, never deeply lobed
. Fertile
stamen 1; filament
broad; anther
borne below apex of filament or at apex with a connective
crest
, introrse
, dehiscing by longitudinal
slits. Ovary inferior, 2- or 3-loculed; ovules many per locule; placentation axile
. Developed style 1, filiform
, usually enclosed between anther locules; stigma with or without abaxial
appendage
. Stylodes 2, reduced to septal, hollow nectaries at apex of ovary, or absent. Fruit a capsule, 2- or 3-valved and dehiscing loculicidally, or indehiscent and breaking up irregularly, apex with persistent
calyx. Seeds numerous
, black, arillate
.
Four genera and ca.
120 species: pantropical
with center of diversity
in America; one genus and five species (two endemic) in China.[1]
Physical Description
Habit: Evergreen .
Flowers: Flower Color: near white, pale yellow, white
Size/Age/Growth
Size: 12-15' tall.
Habitat
Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,051 meters (0 to 10,010 feet).[2]
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 8-10' apart.
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Liliopsida
()
- Scopoli, 1760
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Zingiberanae
()
- Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Zingiberales
()
- Grisebach, 1854
- Family:
Costaceae
()
- Nakai, 1941
- Spiralflag Family
- Genus:
Dimerocostus
()
- Specific epithet:
strobilaceus
- Kuntze
- Botanical name: - Dimerocostus strobilaceus
- Specific epithet:
strobilaceus
- Kuntze
- Genus:
Dimerocostus
(
- Family:
Costaceae
(
- Order:
Zingiberales
(
- Superorder:
Zingiberanae
(
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
(
- Class:
Liliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author
: Maas Publication
: Fl.
Neotrop. Monogr. no. 8: 25, fig. 12 1972
Publishing author: Kuntze Publication: Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 687 1891
Similar Species
Members of the genus Dimerocostus
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 15 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
D. argenteus · D. bicolor · D. cryptocalyx · D. elongatus · D. gutierrezii · D. guttierezii · D. guttierrezii · D. strobilacea · D. strobilaceus · D. strobilaceus appendiculatus · D. strobilaceus gutierrezii · D. strobilaceus subsp. appendiculatus · D. strobilaceus subsp. gutierrezii · D. uniflorus · D. williamsi
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Botanisches Zentralblatt; referierendes Organ für das Gesamtgebiet der Botanik. Jena [etc.]G. Fischer [etc.] GER url p. 164.
- Tsai Hsi-tao & Tong Shao-quan. 1981. Zingiberaceae subfam. Costoideae. In: Wu Te-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 16(2): 148--152.
Notes
Contributors
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed October 04, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 2 providers.
- The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Jan 19, 2007.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:
- Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Virtual Herbarium Darwin Core format
- Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
- Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
- , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
- Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3488648
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15392481
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:80399-2
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 80399-2
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 708183
Footnotes
- Delin Wu & Kai Larsen "Costaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 320. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Mean = 354.310 meters (1,162.434 feet), Standard Deviation = 581.960 based on 144 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
