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Friday, February 4, 2011

Costus woodsonii


Scientific name: Costus woodsonii

Common name: Red button ginger, French kiss, dwarf cone ginger, scarlet spiral flag, dwarf lipstick plant, Panama candle plant

Chinese name: 红闭鞘姜 (hong bi qiao jiang),
Cantonese nickname: hung wan tong tao (arrival of good fortune)

Family: Costaceae
 Origin: from Nicaragua to Columbia in Central America 
Category: Tropical perennial herb

Photo taken at: My home garden

The bloom which is a bright red cone shaped inflorescence. The real flower is the tiny orange-yellow one jutting out from the tightly wrapped red bracts. The deep green foliage contrasts well with the bright red blooms. 

This is my entry for Blooming Friday. The theme this week is "Contrasts".  To participate or view other entries, visit here here or click on the image below.

6 comments:

  1. Lovely colour. Have a nice weekend/Gela

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  2. What a fantastic plant.

    Thanks for sharing it.

    Have a nice weekend
    Gunilla

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  3. I agree, what a stunning plant. Red and green, one of the strongest contrasts too. Nice plant. Wishing you a good weekend :-)

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  4. It is a lovely plant and the colour does contrast well with the foliage. Interesting that the real flower is so small.

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  5. A stunning plant, indeed! A real eye-catcher1

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  6. Hi Autumn Belle, i haven't seen this red Costus, but last garden sale in the biggest garden center in Quezon City, i saw an orange colored one. Maybe i should post it in the future, but it is not labeled so i don't know the variety or species.

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Yay! You like flowers too.