Fruits and seeds are sparingly developed. Surprisingly, it’s not the flowers but the waxy red bracts on the conical inflorescence that will secrete the sweet sugary fluid from its extrafloral nectaries, attracting ants that come to harvest the nectar and help protect the seeds from being destroyed by larvae of certain flies. The true reddish-orange flowers with inconspicuous orange-yellow labellum are edible and will peek out one at a time from between the red bracts, lasting for only a day per flower. The flowering spike is made up of waxy red bracts, tightly overlapping like fish scales, to form an erect, cigar-shaped or torpedo-like flower head, 6-10 cm tall.

In fabulous contrast with the green foliage, lipstick-red inflorescences will appear at terminal stems. Red Button Ginger will flower profusely throughout the year in the tropics and other warmer regions. As typical of spiral gingers, the leaves spiral around the thick green stems which are normally upright but may sometimes be leaning and gently spiraled, creating a dense appearance. The broadly elliptical leaves (roughly up to 15cm long and 8 cm wide) with tapering tips are bright to dark green in colour, simple and entire, glossy and glabrous. Being rhizomatous, it forms a decent clump in no time and presents a dramatic cluster with elegant stems in various stages of growth and flowering. It is a perennial and evergreen herb that sends out leafy cane-like stems from its underground rhizomes. However, the cultivated plants are typically below 1 m in height, with a spread of 0.6 m, probably belonging to the dwarf cultivars, such as ‘Dwarf Lipstick’, ‘Red Button’ and ‘French Kiss’.

Features: The vigorous-growing Costus woodsonii, an attractive species of the genus, Costus, can reach 1.5-2 m in height and spread about 1 m wide.

Plant type: An ornamental perennial herb.

Origin: Native to Mesoamerica (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama) and Colombia in South America.(1904-1963), who was the Curator of the Herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden and dedicated much of his life to the project of compiling the Flora of Panama. Etymology: Originally named Costus spiralis, the plant was renamed in 1972 by the Dutch botanist Paulus Johannes Maria Maas to honour Dr.Also placed in Zingiberaceae, the ginger family Family name: Costaceae (Costus family).Common Name: Red Button Ginger, Scarlet Spiral Flag, Red Cane, Panamanian Candle Ginger, Indian Head Ginger, Dwarf French Kiss, Dwarf Cone Ginger.Botanical Name: Costus woodsonii (syn: Costus spiralis, Alpinia spiralis, Costus pisonis).It characteristically features leaves that are spirally arranged around the graceful and succulent stems.Īn easy growing perennial herb that is a prolific bloomer year-round in warmer regions, Costus woodsonii will certainly be excellent for any landscape design or just to fill garden space with its captivating form and long-lasting inflorescences. Red Button Ginger, named thus because of its lovely flower head that comes forth as a luscious red button, is one of the robust spiral gingers in the Costus family that has more than 100 species. It is often planted at home gardens, recreational areas and parks, as well as in containers at entrances to hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. Like the Cheliocostus speciosus, another spectacular plant, it is becoming more and more popular in Malaysia in recent years.

No wonder Costus woodsonii, is very much favoured as a decorative landscape and garden plant or container specimen. This stunning and colourful plant that displays exotic and vibrant red torpedo-shaped inflorescences, rising above a sea of lush green foliage as if ready to be launched into space, is definitely an attention grabber and demands notice. Costus woodsonii (Red Button Ginger, Scarlet Spiral Flag, Red Cane, Panamanian Candle Ginger, Dwarf French Kiss)

Red button ginger care