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Plant

Khost

Costus speciosus

On the Rajasthan Board's rare and threatened plants list
Hellenia speciosa (Costus speciosus)

Image: Dr. Alexey Yakovlev · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0 · As stated on the file page · Resized

Scientific name
Costus speciosus
Family
Costaceae, order Zingiberales
Group
Plant

A spiral staircase of leaves topped with a red cone.

  • Spot it Leaves spiral around the stem; red cone with white crepe-like flowers.
  • Home Moist, shady ground near streams.
  • Food web Bees and sunbirds visit the flowers.
  • Why it matters Holds damp soil on shady slopes and feeds pollinators.

Read more: Hellenia speciosa on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • RajasthanThe Rajasthan State Biodiversity Board lists it among the rare, endangered and threatened plants of Rajasthan, for Phulwari and Sitamata sanctuaries.[2]
  • RajasthanThe Board gives its local name as Khost.[2]
  • RajasthanThe Board describes it as a herb of the Costaceae family.[2]

Sources

  1. Rajasthan State Biodiversity Board. List of Rare, Endangered and Threatened Plants of Rajasthan (55 plants) (government). Official list, published as a PDF.
  2. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  3. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
  4. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

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