Costaceae

Costaceae, known as the Costus family or spiral gingers, is a family of pantropical monocots. It belongs to the order Zingiberales, which contains horticulturally and economically important plants such as the banana (Musaceae), bird-of-paradise (Strelitziaceae), and edible ginger (Zingiberaceae). The seven genera in Costaceae together contain about 143 known species^[2] (1 in Monocostus, 2 in Dimerocostus, 16 in Tapeinochilos, 2 in Paracostus, c. 8 in Chamaecostus, c. 5 in Hellenia, and c. 80 in Costus).^[3] They are native to tropical climates of Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. Several species are frequently found in cultivation.^{[citation needed]}

Costaceae
Tapeinochilos ananassae of the family Costaceae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Costaceae Nakai[1]
Genera
Chamaecostus Cheilocostus Costus Dimerocostus Hellenia Monocostus Paracostus Tapeinochilos

Description

The simple leaves are entire and spirally arranged, with those toward the base of the stem usually bladeless. Leaf bases have a closed sheath with a ligule, or projection at the top of the sheath.

Costaceae is different from the other families of Zingiberales in that its species have 5 fused staminodes, rather than 2 or 3, and the Costaceae contain no aromatic oils. The fused infertile stamens form a large petaloid labellum that often functions to attract pollinators. The flowers are solitary in Monocostus. In the other genera, the flowers are borne in a terminal spike that ranges from elongate to nearly capitate. Each flower is subtended by a large bract. The fruit is a berry or capsule. The rhizome is fleshy with tuberous roots.

Taxonomy

Cladogram: Phylogeny of Zingiberales[4]

Zingiberales Zingiberineae Zingiberariae Zingiberaceae Costaceae Cannariae Cannaceae Marantaceae Strelitziineae Lowiaceae Strelitziaceae Heliconiaceae Musaceae

Phylogenetic tree of the family.^{[citation needed]}

Costaceae	Monocostus Dimerocostus Chamaecostus Tapeinochilos Hellenia Cheilocostus Paracostus Costus

Gallery

• 
  Tapeinochilos ananassae (wax ginger)
• 
  Cheilocostus speciosus (crêpe ginger)
• 
  Spirally arranged leaves of wild Cheilocostus speciosus

References

1. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. hdl:10654/18083.
2. Christenhusz, M. J. M.; Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. 261 (3). Magnolia Press: 201–217. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1.
3. Chelsea D. Specht & Dennis Wm. Stevenson. 2006. "A new phylogeny-based generic classification of Costaceae (Zingiberales)".Taxon 55(1):153-163. (See External links below).
4. Sass et al 2016.

Bibliography

• Sass, C; Iles, WJ; Barrett, CF; Smith, SY; Specht, CD (21 January 2016). "Revisiting the Zingiberales: using multiplexed exon capture to resolve ancient and recent phylogenetic splits in a charismatic plant lineage". PeerJ. 4: e1584. doi:10.7717/peerj.1584. PMC 4727956. PMID 26819846.

External links

• Classification of Costaceae
• Hellenia, the correct name for Cheilocostus At volume 151 At Online Content At Phytotaxa
• Distribution Map And Genus list At Costaceae At Zingiberales At: Trees At: APweb At: botanical databases At: About Science & Conservation At: Missouri Botanical Garden
• Family Costaceae