SINGAPORE – A rare and striking plant, kept for more than 25 years as part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ living collections, has flowered for the first time.
The Costus fenestralis is a member of the spiral ginger family often known as Costus “Blue Hawaii”, the Singapore Botanic Gardens said in a post on Facebook on July 14.
The plant is recognisable by its unusual leafy shoots, with leaves crowded at the top of the stem and spreading out in a circular, umbrella-like arrangement.
Its large, tubular flowers feature different shades of pink with a bright yellow patch on the labellum, a modified petal that often serves as a landing platform for pollinators, suggesting that it is most likely pollinated by bees, said the Botanic Gardens.
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