Bamboo Costus (Costus stenophyllus)

I was at a loss as to what to update on my blog in recent days due to the numerous things that are swimming in my mind… Anyway, I realise I haven’t posted anything on spiral gingers as yet so I thought it may be nice to put up a first article on one species that I particularly love.

For anyone who have gone to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, you may have passed by some paths that have been lined with the bamboo costus. Currently, I have two young plants in my community garden.

Botanically known as Costus stenophyllus, the bamboo costus is a spiral ginger admired for its beautiful  stems that are lined with brown coloured alternating bands. This costus somewhat defies the usual definition of a spiral ginger as it has rather straight and upright stems. If you look closer, you will notice the stems near the tips actually do ‘spiral’a bit.

It’s leaves are all bunched at the top of the stems and they are thin unlike many other species of spiral gingers. This characteristic is reflected in its botanical name, where “steno” in Latin refers to the narrow shape of the leaves.

Taking both characteristics into account, the plant looks somewhat like a ginger equivalent of a bamboo. This plant looks best when several clumps are planted together as that will give a big visual impact. Outdoors, this plant does best in a semi-shaded location. Make sure the soil where it is grown doesn’t dry out. Don’t grow it in an overly windy area.

It also does well in containers too! So apartment gardeners who like this ginger can actually grow one at home. Give it some filtered or direct sunshine for 6 hours daily on your balcony. Rhizomes will spread when given time and plants can be unpotted and divided and replanted into another container.

Conical red inflorescences which resemble the head of a snake emerge from the base of the plants. I noticed this only happens in mature plants, which are clumps of a substantial size. The true flowers are yellow in colour that peek through between the red scales on the rather long-lasting, attractive inflorescence.