- See Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
for the man named Costus often held to be her father.
Costus is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of perennial tropical
herbaceous plantA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
s from the costus
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(
CostaceaeCostaceae or the Costus Family is a family of pantropical monocots. They belong to the order Zingiberales, which contains other horticulturally and economically important plants such as the banana , bird-of-paradise , and edible ginger...
). They are often characterized and distinguished from relatives such as
ZingiberThe genus Zingiber contains the true gingers, a set of plants with medicinal and culinary value in many parts of the world. The most well-known is Z. officinale, garden ginger.-Culinary:...
(true ginger) by their spiraling stems. The genus as a whole is thus often called
spiral gingers, but this can also refer to
C. barbatusCostus barbatus, also known as Spiral Ginger, is a perennial plant with a red inflorescence. It is one of the most commonly cultivated Costus species....
specifically.
Costus spectabilis is the
floral emblemIn a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to adopt these symbols - some are conferred by...
of
NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
; its flowers are represented (erroneously in red instead of yellow color) on
its coat of armsThe coat of arms of Nigeria has a black shield with two white stripes that come together, like the letter Y. These represent the two main rivers flowing through Nigeria: the Benue River and the Niger River. The black shield represents Nigeria's good earth while the two horses on each side...
.
It is important not to confuse "Costus speciousus, C. spectabilis etc. with the herb known by the common name 'costus'.
Some species are of importance to
herbivoreHerbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s, such as
caterpillarCaterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s of the Restricted Demon (
Notocrypta curvifascia) which feed on Crape Ginger (
C. speciosus). The Crape Ginger is also a source of
diosgeninDiosgenin, a steroid sapogenin, is the product of hydrolysis by acids, strong bases, or enzymes of saponins, extracted from the tubers of Dioscorea wild yam, such as the Kokoro...
, a compound used for the commercial production of various
steroidA steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...
s, such as
progesteroneProgesterone also known as P4 is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis of humans and other species...
. In
Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, a mix of
Costus scaber juice and crushed
Renealmia alpinia berries is used to treat dogs
bitten by snakesA snakebite is an injury caused by a bite from a snake, often resulting in puncture wounds inflicted by the animal's fangs and sometimes resulting in envenomation. Although the majority of snake species are non-venomous and typically kill their prey with constriction rather than venom, venomous...
.
Selected species
- Costus acanthocephalus K.Schum.
- Costus acaulis S.Moore
- Costus acreanus (Loes.) Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus adolphi-friderici Loes.
- Costus afer Ker Gawl.
- Costus albus A.Chev.
- Costus allenii Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus arabicus Vell. (Syn.: C. verschaffeltianus)
- Costus barbatus
Costus barbatus, also known as Spiral Ginger, is a perennial plant with a red inflorescence. It is one of the most commonly cultivated Costus species....
– Spiral Ginger
- Costus chartaceus
The Christmas Costus is a perennial plant with a red inflorescence....
– Christmas Costus
- Costus comosus Roscoe
-Places:United States*Roscoe, California *Roscoe, Illinois*Roscoe, Minnesota*Roscoe, Missouri*Roscoe, Nebraska*Roscoe, New York*Roscoe, Pennsylvania*Roscoe, South Dakota*Roscoe, Texas...
- Costus curvibracteatus Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus cuspidatus (Nees & Mart.) Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus deistellii
- Costus dubius (Afzel.) K.Schum.
- Costus englerianus K.Schum.
- Costus erythrocoryne
- Costus erythrophyllus Loes.
- Costus fragilis Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus fusiformis Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
- Costus guanaiensis Rusby
- Costus giganteus, Giant Ginger
- Costus igneus
Costus igneus, common name Fiery Costus or Spiral Flag, is a species of herbaceous plant in the Costaceae family.It is claimed to help build up insulin in the human body and is sometimes referred to as the Insulin Plant...
- Costus laevis Ruiz & Pav.
- Costus lima
- Costus ligularis
- Costus longebracteolatus
- Costus lucanusianus J.Braun & K.Schum.
- Costus malortieanus
- Costus mosaicus W.Bull
- Costus oblongus S.Q.Tong
- Costus osae
Costus osae is a rare member of the Costus family. One of many rare tropical plants in the Costus family, Costus osae is a species native to Costa Rica described in 1997 . It is usually considered a type of ginger. This plant has thick stems with large green fuzzy leaves. It grows to an...
MaasMaas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
& H.Maas
- Costus phaeotrichus
- Costus phyllocephalus
- Costus potierae F.Muell.
- Costus pulverulentus C.Presl
- Costus ricus Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
& H.Maas
- Costus rumphianus Valeton ex K.Heyne
- Costus scaber
- Costus speciosus
Costus speciosus or Cheilocostus speciosus or crape ginger is possibly the best known cultivated species of the genus Costus. This plant is native to southeast Asia, especially on the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia...
– Crape Ginger
- Costus spectabilis
- Costus spicatus
Costus spicatus, also known as Spiked Spirlaflag Ginger or Indian Head Ginger, is a species of herbaceous plant in the Costaceae family .-Distribution:...
– Spiked Spiralflag Ginger; Indian Head Ginger
- Costus spiralis (Jacq.) Roscoe
-Places:United States*Roscoe, California *Roscoe, Illinois*Roscoe, Minnesota*Roscoe, Missouri*Roscoe, Nebraska*Roscoe, New York*Roscoe, Pennsylvania*Roscoe, South Dakota*Roscoe, Texas...
- Costus stenophyllus Standl. + L.O.Williams
- Costus tapenbeckianus
- Costus tonkinensis Gagnep.
- Costus viridis S.Q.Tong
- Costus woodsonii
Formerly placed here
Plants for some time placed in this genus include
Alpinia nutansAlpinia nutans is a Southeast Asian plant of the ginger family , which is often used as a medicinal plant.-Characteristics:...
(as
Costus zerumbet)