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Costus pulverulentus; photograph (c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-03-10

Costus pulverulentus C.Presl

Spiral ginger; Red cigar

Costaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +13 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) Nathan Nguyen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría, some rights reserved (CC BY)Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) Mike Butler, some rights reserved (CC BY)Costus pulverulentus, photograph (c) Mike Butler, some rights reserved (CC BY) 54 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
18.6°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,869mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, June to November (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Costus pulverulentus, the red cigar or spiral ginger (a name it shares with other members of its family), is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and it has been introduced to Cuba and Florida. It is invasive in Hawaii.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Costus pulverulentus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Costus

Costus is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Costus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Costus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,018 mm of 2,736 mm) falls in June to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,736 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,018 mm of it June to November. Wettest month September at 405 mm, driest month March at 67 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,690 mm to 4,535 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,869 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,736 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 13.4 °C to 23.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.4 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 18.6 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Costus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Costus pulverulentus through the yearWarmest months March, April and May, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.6 °C; 2,736 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 25–38RH 63–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 363 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 22–2827 / 23–2928 / 24–3128 / 25–3328 / 24–3327 / 24–3127 / 23–3027 / 24–3127 / 24–3026 / 23–2926 / 22–2826 / 22–28
Night °C19 / 13–2319 / 14–2420 / 15–2421 / 16–2422 / 17–2522 / 17–2522 / 17–2422 / 17–2422 / 17–2421 / 16–2420 / 15–2319 / 14–23
Rain mm94 / 29–27980 / 19–22567 / 22–22995 / 38–342229 / 98–502338 / 199–508340 / 163–504367 / 170–568405 / 208–609332 / 161–692236 / 54–504153 / 37–322
DLI27 / 22–3432 / 26–3837 / 30–4138 / 30–4235 / 25–4131 / 23–3732 / 23–3831 / 24–3829 / 24–3327 / 23–3125 / 22–3025 / 21–31
RH %66 / 60–7265 / 58–7163 / 57–7063 / 57–7166 / 59–7369 / 64–7569 / 63–7569 / 64–7570 / 67–7570 / 66–7669 / 64–7568 / 63–73

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, -1201 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum 16.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.3 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 363 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (530 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1798:2019 (0.075, -79.025). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 363 distinct grid cells holding 530 of the 531 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1798:2019 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 0.00_-78.750, lapse-corrected -1201 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 662 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador · introduced: Cuba · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker8.65, -83.46 · in the densest population, 356 records (29% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1215 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 530 of them in the land cells it reads, of 531 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 921 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 226 km away. 80 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 684 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1215 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Costus pulverulentus, photograph 1did not loadCostus pulverulentus, photograph 2did not loadCostus pulverulentus, photograph 3did not loadCostus pulverulentus, photograph 4did not loadCostus pulverulentus, photograph 5did not loadCostus pulverulentus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Nathan Nguyen, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mike Butler, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Syngonium macrophyllum Syngonium macrophyllum Arrowhead vine Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialPhilodendron tripartitum Philodendron tripartitum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Zac PetersonOdontonema tubaeforme Odontonema tubaeforme Firespike Photo: CC0, author not statedPsiguria warscewiczii Psiguria warscewiczii Cucurbitaceae Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalAnthurium bakeri Anthurium bakeri Araceae Photo: CC BY, River AhlquistMaxillaria egertoniana Maxillaria egertoniana Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Costus 40 in the reference

Costus acreanus Costaceae Costus afer Costus afer Spiral-ginger Photo: CC BY, Philippe HornusCostus allenii Costus allenii Costaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, David J. StangCostus amazonicus Costus amazonicus Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., CanadaCostus arabicus Costus arabicus Costaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Divya MudappaCostus atlanticus Costus atlanticus Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizCostus barbatus Costus barbatus Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalCostus claviger Costus claviger Costaceae Photo: CC BY, thomas_oswaldCostus comosus Costus comosus Red tower ginger Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioCostus curvibracteatus Costus curvibracteatus Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Ong Jyh SengCostus dirzoi Costus dirzoi Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCostus dubius Costus dubius Costus Photo: CC BY, Kevin Faccenda all 41 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Costus formosus; Costus laxus; Costus ruber; Costus sanguineus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Costaceae
Described by
C.Presl
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +12
Wild records
1215 in range · 921 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 106 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (101 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 0.00_-78.750, lapse-corrected -1201 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, -1201 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 83 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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