Costus dubius K. Schum.
Creators: name: Kamer 1, H. Maas-van de
name: Maas 1, P. J. M.
name: Wieringa 1, J. J.
name: Specht, C. D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Zingiberales
Costaceae
Costus
Costus dubius

description: <b> 6. <i>Costus dubius</i> (Afzel.) K.Schum.</b> — Plate 2a; Map 5 <i>Costus dubius</i> (Afzel.) K.Schum.(1904) 409. — <i>Zingiber dubium</i> Afzel.(1813) 9. — Type: <i>A collection by Afzelius,</i> Sierra Leone, without location.As no original material of Afzelius could be traced we here designate the follow-ing neotype from the same country: <i>Pyne 88</i> (neo K; isoneo P), Sierra Leone, Moyamba District, Kori Chiefdom, Gbonjema, (‘ Bonjema (Kori)’), 21 Dec. 1955. <i>Costus maculatus</i> Roscoe (1825) 218,pl. 82; K.Schum. (1904) 408. — <i>Costus afer</i> var. <i>maculatus</i> (Roscoe) Baker (1898) 299, syn. nov. — Type: <i>Roscoe’s plate 82</i> (1825). <i>Costus littoralis</i> K.Schum. (1904) 395. — Type: <i>Dinklage 1701</i> (holo B), Liberia, Grand Bassa, near Fishtown, 14 Aug. 1896. <i>Costus albus</i> A.Chev. (1920) 627 (for the status of this name see the notes under <i>C. aureus</i>). — Type: <i>Chevalier 15217</i> (lecto P, designated here; isolecto LY), Ivory Coast, Bingerville region, Abidjan, Dabou, 19 Mar. 1905; other syntype: <i>Chevalier 17579</i> (P), Ivory Coast, lower Comoé River, Bettié, 15–17 Mar. 1907. Terrestrial herb 0.5–3 m tall. <i>Leaves</i> many; sheaths 0.5–2 cm diam; ligule chartaceous, truncate to 2-lobed, (3–)5–20(–30) mm long; petiole (3–)10–20(–25) mm long; sheaths, ligule and petiole generally glabrous; lamina shiny above, more or less succulent, narrowly elliptic,15–36 by (4–) 6–12 cm, upper side glabrous, lower side glabrous, margin often with a row of hairs &lt;1 mm long, base acute, obtuse, or cordate, apex acuminate (acumen 10–30 mm long). <i>Inflorescence</i> many-flowered, ovoid to ellipsoid or narrowly so, 5–20(–30) by 3–6 cm, terminat-ing a separate leafless shoot 5–40(–100) cm long, or rarely terminating the leafy shoot; bracts, appendages of bracts, bracteoles, calyx, ovary and capsule glabrous, except for some erect hairs &lt;1 mm long at the base of the calyx and apex of the ovary. <i>Flowers</i> 1 per bract, rarely 2; bracts green with reddish margins, sometimes becoming red in fruit, coriaceous, bulging, very broadly ovate, 1.5–3 by 2–3.5 cm, callus sometimes pre-sent and then to c. 2 mm long; appendages generally absent; bracteole boat-shaped, 20–25 mm long, callus 2–3 mm long; calyx 12–18 mm long, lobes broadly ovate-triangular to deltate, 3–5 mm long, callus very inconspicuous; corolla white to cream, 25–55 mm long, glabrous, tube 12–15 mm long, lobes narrowly elliptic, 25–40 mm long; labellum white, inner side with central yellow nectar guide, funnel-shaped, broadly obovate when spread out, 35–40 by 30 mm, margin crenate; stamen white, 25–30 by 8–9 mm, anther 6–8 mm long. <i>Capsule</i> ellipsoid to obovoid, 10–15 by 6–12 mm. <i>Seeds</i> 2–2.5 by 1.5 mm. Distribution — North East Africa (South Sudan); West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo); Central Africa (Burundi, Cam-eroon, Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon); East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda); Southern Tropical Africa (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique). Habitat &amp; Ecology — In primary rainforest, savanna forest, coastal forest, secondary forest, or swamp forest, in shady places, also along roads and rivers and in plantations, on clayish soil at elevations of 0–1400 m. Flowering and fruiting: all year through. Field observations — <i>Costus dubius</i> plants are the only cultivated species of <i>Costus</i> often setting seed in greenhouses. Their seedlings germinate easily and tend to take over other pots with different species of <i>Costus</i> growing beside them. IUCN Conservation Status — Least Concern. Notes — <i>Costus dubius</i> can be recognized by its inflorescence generally near the base of the plant terminating a separate leafless shoot, inflorescence composed of 1-flowered green unappendaged bracts and flowers having a white labellum with a yellow nectar guide. The leaves of this species are glabrous and the shoot is often covered by reddish dots. For the differences between <i>C. dubius</i> and <i>C. afer</i> see under <i>C. afer</i>. For the differences between <i>C. dubius</i> and <i>C. dinklagei</i>, see under <i>C. dinklagei</i>. Of the two syntypes of <i>C. trachyphyllus</i> (now in the synonymy of <i>C. afer</i>) <i>Schweinfurth 3268</i> (B destroyed, K), from South Sudan, Western Equatoria, ‘ am Turu bei Uando’s Dorf’, 10 Mar. 1870, probably belongs to <i>C. dubius</i>, because of its white flowers mentioned on the label (‘fl. albo’). As in many species of <i>Costus</i>, inflorescences are generally terminating a leafless shoot but can (rarely) terminate a leafy shoot. Plants with both types of inflorescences have both been included in the description. Some specimens of <i>C. dubius</i> do have a very long ligule (1-lobed or obliquely truncate, acute, 25–30 mm long). These specimens are: <i>Breteler 1209</i> from Cameroon, <i>Ekwuno 12</i> from Nigeria and <i>Harris 3211</i> from Congo. The collection by <i>Friedmann 3919</i> has been found East of the African continent on the Seychelles, on the island of Mahé. Because on the label is written: ‘subspontanée’, we suppose this collection might not represent a natural distribution.
description: Published as part of <i>Kamer 1, H. Maas-van de, Maas 1, P. J. M., Wieringa 1, J. J. &amp; Specht, C. D., 2016, Monograph of African Costaceae, pp. 280-318 in Blumea 61 (3)</i> on pages 295-296, DOI: 10.3767/000651916X694445, http://zenodo.org/record/7570023