The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged, simple, entire, and ovate to elliptic with pointed apex, 8-25 cm long and 4-10 cm broad, coriaceous, of glossy intense green colour above, paler below. The Costus woodsonii Maas (1972) is an evergreen, perennial rhizomatous herbaceous species with slightly spiralled stems, 1-1,8 m tall, even if in cultivation they keep lower. The name of the genus was given by Linnaeus as homage to Dioscorides who had described a plant, deemed similar, with the name of Kostos the species is honoured to the American botanist Robert Everard Woodson (1904-1963), curator of the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden.Ĭommon names: dwarf cone ginger, Indian head ginger, Panama candle plant, Panamanian candle ginger, red button ginger, red cane, scarlet spiral flag (English). The species is native to Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, where it grows in the open forests along the coast or on the beaches in full sun. Costus woodsonii can be more than one metre tall with 15 cm inflorescences © Giuseppe Mazza

Red button ginger plant indoors