Species
+

Costus woodsonii Maas

Red Button Ginger, Scarlet spiral-ginger, red cane

Climate known 50 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Costus woodsonii, the red button ginger or scarlet spiral flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae, native to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. A rhizomatous geophytic perennial, it is recommended for coastal gardens, borders, containers, and general wet, tropical garden applications. It is more widely cultivated than other species of Costus. Costus woodsonii was first described by Paul Maas in 1972 and is named for Robert Woodson of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Text from Wikipedia, “Costus woodsonii”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Costus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Costaceae
Described by
Maas
Native to
Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama +1
Wild records
202 in range· 125 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
3606mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Nov 408 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Costus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to August and October to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 3606 mm a year, wettest November at 408 mm, driest March at 103 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 23.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Costus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to August and October to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (2621 mm of 3606 mm) falls in May to August and October to December. The temperature curve is flat, 1.5 °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, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 3606 mm a year, wettest November at 408 mm, driest March at 103 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

3606 mm a year at the habitat, 2621 mm of it May to August and October to December. Wettest month November at 408 mm, driest March at 103 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2628 mm to 4708 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 23.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 23.6 °C, the absolute minimum 22.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 19.4 °C to 24.3 °C), warmest day 27.9 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 23.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Apr; mean night from 23 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 3606 mm of rain a year, most in Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 108 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 22.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°31.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)22.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 25–37RH 64–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 108 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2827 / 26–2927 / 26–2928 / 27–2928 / 27–2928 / 26–2927 / 26–2828 / 26–2828 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–28
Night °C23 / 19–2423 / 19–2524 / 20–2524 / 21–2525 / 21–2525 / 21–2524 / 21–2524 / 21–2524 / 21–2524 / 21–2524 / 20–2524 / 20–24
Rain mm232 / 50–367144 / 29–266103 / 46–232189 / 76–292341 / 261–417347 / 265–480399 / 281–730380 / 278–524317 / 169–477393 / 236–519408 / 294–578353 / 171–505
DLI30 / 27–3233 / 31–3537 / 34–3836 / 33–3931 / 27–3428 / 24–3128 / 23–3129 / 25–3230 / 26–3228 / 24–2925 / 23–2726 / 24–29
RH %66 / 63–7065 / 62–6964 / 61–6865 / 63–7068 / 66–7269 / 67–7569 / 66–7469 / 66–7469 / 66–7469 / 66–7569 / 66–7468 / 64–72

Each figure is the median across the 108 grid cells holding the 198 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1606:1944 (9.675, -82.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 22.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 23.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 108 distinct grid cells holding the 198 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1606:1944 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 9.50_-82.500, lapse-corrected -303 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 5 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCosta Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia· introduced: Bangladesh
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.73, -82.815 · in the densest population, 139 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 202 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 125 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 649 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 202 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Costus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsoniiCostus woodsonii

Photographs: (c) Mitch Van Dyke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Gijs Romijn, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Roger Rittmaster, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Richard Jacob, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) AnnLazaro, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Costus woodsonii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Potentials of Costus woodsonii leaf extract in producing narrow band gap ZnO nanoparticles
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Mansoob Khan, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Mansoob Khan, Nurin Hayatus Saadah, Mohammad Ehtisham Khan (2018) · Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
Green synthesis of Mn3O4 nanoparticles using Costus woodsonii flowers extract for effective removal of malachite green dye
Thuan Van Tran, Duyen Thi Cam Nguyen, P. Senthil Kumar, Azam Taufik Mohd Din (2022) · Environmental Research
Phytogenic Synthesis of Band Gap-Narrowed ZnO Nanoparticles Using the Bulb Extract of Costus woodsonii
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Mansoob Khan, Nurin Hayatus Saadah, Mohammad Ehtisham Khan, Mohammad Hilni Harunsani (2019) · BioNanoScience
Marine‐derived Nutrients from Green Turtle Nests Subsidize Terrestrial Beach Ecosystems
Hannah B. Vander Zanden, Karen A. Bjorndal, Patrick W. Inglett, Alan B. Bolten (2011) · Biotropica
Sequential extraction of red button ginger ( Costus woodsonii ): Phytochemical screening and antioxidative activities
Jin Ling, Lee Sin Chang, Rozida Mohd Khalid, Wan Aida Wan Mustapha (2020) · Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
Identification of bioactive cytotoxic compound of red button ginger extracted by solvent fractionation
Janet Jia Yin Tan, Joash Ban Lee Tan, Yau Yan Lim (2020) · Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Potential ofCostus Woodsonii
Janet Jia Yin Tan, Joash Ban Lee Tan, S M Lee, Yau Yan Lim (2019) · Journal of Herbs Spices & Medicinal Plants
Pharmacognostical, Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Costus woodsonii
Mukesh Singh Sikarwar, Chew Khai Szeek, Neeraj Paliwal (2019) · Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology
Hypoglycemic Effect of Scarlet Spiral Flag (Costus woodsonii) to Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Mice: An In Vivo Study
Roderic John R. Magtulis, Emvie Loyd P. Itable (2020) · UI Proceedings on Health and Medicine

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Costus 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 26 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.