Dave Looks for Plants

Pocosol is on the eastern (Atlantic) side of the Tilarán Mountains – opposite from the well known tourist area of Montverde.  At about 800 meters, it is just north of the Rio Peñas Blancas.  There are several trails around the research station there, but not particularly well maintained and the place is seldom visited except by a few researchers.

Four different Costus were seen there, including one that has me a bit mystified.  It was very tall with non-appendaged bracts and open flowers looking somewhat like Costus glaucus except that the young shoots and the bracts did not have the characteristic powdery white covering.  It is similar to a plant I saw in 2013 in the gardens at the University of Georgia research station at San Luis near Monteverde, and along the upper Rio Peñas Blancas.  This plant will probably be distributed under the name Costus ‘Red Baron’.

I also saw lots of Costus malortieanus which I had not seen in habitat before then.

The most interesting plant seen was similar to Costus curvibracteatus except much shorter and compact with nearly pure red bracts and much larger yellow flowers.  I have registered a cultivar name for it, not very original, Costus aff. curvibracteatus ‘Pocosol’.