Crepe ginger
पेव
Costus speciosus
Kew's current name: Hellenia speciosa (J.Koenig) S.R.Dutta
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 2.3 m
- wide
- —
Costaceae
Also called Crêpe ginger
Formerly Amomum arboreum, Amomum hirsutum, Banksea speciosa, Cardamomum arboreum, and 16 more
When it flowers
Flowers June to March in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Rhizomatous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Trop. & Subtrop. Asia to NE. QueenslandKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from Top Tropicals, one source
- Height
- 1.5 m to 3.0 mRead from Top Tropicals, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from Top Tropicals, one source
- Flowers
- WhiteRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -6.7 °C (USDA zone 9a)Read from Top Tropicals, one source
Not known yet: spread, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Australian Umbrella TreeFlowers April to May, when this does not
Banana passionfruitFlowers April to May, when this does not
Bengal clock vineFlowers April to May, when this does not
Bleeding heart vineFlowers April to May, when this does not
Blue Trumpet VineFlowers April to May, when this does not
BougainvilleaFlowers April to May, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Chinese
- 絹毛鳶尾, 閉鞘薑, 闭鞘姜
- Spanish
- Caña agria
- German
- Prächtige Kostwurz
- Chinese (China)
- 闭鞘姜, Гелления красивая
- Japanese
- オオホザキアヤメ, フクジンソウ
- Thai
- เอื้องหมายนา
- Indonesian
- Pacing
- Sinhala
- තෙබු
- root
- isebab
- Russian
- Гелления красивая
- Marathi
- पेव
- Slovak
- helénia nádherná
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- Top Tropicals, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Costus speciosus (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.