CULTIVAR NAME: 'El Gato'
PARENTAGE: Costus
STATUS: Established
TYPE: unnamed species/variety
REFERENCE: www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=7509
PUBLISHED: December 2013 in Heliconia Society Bulletin 19 (4)
REGISTRANT: D. Skinner
NOTES:
ORIGIN:
Collected, named and introduced by Dave Skinner, found at several locations in Ecuador and Peru. Also collected at Cajamarca, Tolima, Colombia. Living and herbarium specimen from this collection is at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii, NTBG#74505.
DESCRIPTION: The primary distinguishing character is the pendent inflorescence, otherwise found only in Costus bracteatus in Central America. Bracts are dark red, non-appendaged, and without fibrous margins. The bracts are distinctively concave in shape forming a cone somewhat similar to Costus scaber, but the flower has a broad, open labellum, mostly white, with a yellow throat and variable amounts of pink color on the labellum wings. The labellum wings are usually parallel to each other giving a flattened appearance to the flower. There are also noticable spots on the stems, most pronounced on the lower part of the stems.
