Costaceae
Costus

Costus afer Ker Gawl.

First published in Bot. Reg. 8: t. 683 (1823)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical Africa. It is a rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Distribution

Native to:

Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe

Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

Kew's Tree of Life Explorer

Discover the flowering plant tree of life and the genomic data used to build it.

View the Tree of Life
PAFTOL

Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
  • Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.
  • Catarino, L., Martins, E.S., Diniz, M.A. & Pinto-Basto, M.F. (2006). Check-list da flora vascular do parque natural das Lagos de Cufada (Guiné-Bissau). Garcia de Orta, Série de Botânica 17: 97-141.
  • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].
  • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
  • Lejoy, J., Ndjele, M.-B. & Geerinck, D. (2010). Catalogue-flore des plantes vasculaires des districts de Kisangani et de la Tshopo (RD Congo). Taxonomania. Revue de Taxonomie et de Nomenclature Botaniques 30: 1-307.
  • Maas-van de Kamer, H., Maas, P.J.M., Wieringa, J.J. & Specht, C.D. (2016). Monograph of African Costaceae. Blumea 61: 280-318.
  • Sita, P. & Moutsambote, J.-M. (2005). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Congo, ed. sept. 2005: 1-158. ORSTOM, Centre de Brazzaville.
  • Sosef, M.S.M. & al. (2006). Check-list des plantes vasculaires du Gabon. Scripta Botanica Belgica 35: 1-438.
  • Thiombiano, A., Schmidt, M., Dressler, S., Ouédraogo, A., Hahn, K. & Zizka, G. (2012). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Burkina Faso. Boissiera 65: 1-391.
  • Timberlake, J.R. & Martins, E.S. (eds.) (2010). Flora Zambesiaca 13(4): 1-151. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Velayos, M., Aedo, C., Cabezas, F., de la Estrella, M., Barberá, P. & Fero, M. (eds.) (2014). Flora de Guinea Ecuatorial 11: 1-416. Consejo superior de investigaciones científicas, Real jardín botánico, Madrid.

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Chev. Bot. 627
  • F.T.A. 7: 299
  • F.W.T.A., ed. 1, 2: 334
  • Hook. in Bot. Mag. t. 4979
  • K. Schum. in Engl., Pflanzenr. 4, 46: 392 (1904)
  • Koechlin in Fl. Cam. 4: 92, t. 20.
  • Koechlin in Fl. Gabon 9: 84, t. 3
  • in Bot. Beg. t. 683 (1823)

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
  • Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.
  • Maas-van de Kamer, H., Maas, P.J.M., Wieringa, J.J. & Specht, C.D. (2016). Monograph of African Costaceae. Blumea 61: 280-318.
  • Sita, P. & Moutsambote, J.-M. (2005). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Congo, ed. sept. 2005: 1-158. ORSTOM, Centre de Brazzaville.
  • Thiombiano, A., Schmidt, M., Dressler, S., Ouédraogo, A., Hahn, K. & Zizka, G. (2012). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Burkina Faso. Boissiera 65: 1-391.
  • Timberlake, J.R. & Martins, E.S. (eds.) (2010). Flora Zambesiaca 13(4): 1-151. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Velayos, M., Aedo, C., Cabezas, F., de la Estrella, M., Barberá, P. & Fero, M. (eds.) (2014). Flora de Guinea Ecuatorial 11: 1-416. Consejo superior de investigaciones científicas, Real jardín botánico, Madrid.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • F. W. Andr., The Flowering Plants of the Sudan 3: 253 (1956).
  • Hepper in Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3: 78 (1968).
  • J. Koechlin in Fl. Gabon 9: 84 (1964)
  • J. Koechlin, Fl. Cameroun 4: 92 (1965).
  • K. Schum. in A. Engler, Das Pflanzenreich IV. 46: 392 (1904).
  • Ker-Gawl. in Bot. Reg. 8, t. 683 (1823).
  • Lock in Kew Bulletin 39: 842 (1984).

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images