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Costaceae family

Stepladder Ginger Costus malortieanus

Stepladder Ginger is an introduced plant, found in Puerto Rico.

More about this plant

Costus elegans, known as stepladder plant, spiral ginger, or spiral flag, is a species of perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Costaceae. It is native to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Costus elegans is often cultivated as an ornamental plant. Wikipedia →

Sources for this entry (9) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)

[06] Photos — iNaturalist — CC, credited per image

[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

[08] Ecological value — GloBI

[09] Mycorrhiza — FungalRoot v2.0 · Meng et al. 2024 (Dryad, CC0)

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Cite this page Open data, please attribute

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Ecological value open data

2 / 5 Keystone

Keystone (host) value — caterpillar, specialist-bee & monarch hosting. A low number means “not a keystone host,” not “low value”: generalist flower-visitor value is shown separately below.

Caterpillar host 2

⚠ non-native — reduced keystone value

Deep dive

Caterpillar host · 2/5 — native butterfly & moth caterpillars that feed on this genus — the base of the food web (more caterpillars → more songbirds). Genus-level keystone count from Warren II 2026 (CC0; Tallamy host-use records), gap-filled by our GloBI derivation.

Counts are genus-level and banded 0–5. Full rubric →

Host / keystone value from open interaction data. How this is scored →

📍 In your area live

Introduced to the U.S.

Recorded in 1 state.

Introduced — Puerto Rico

Recorded in 1 states/territories

Conservation

Invasive? Introduced

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Functional traits open data

Mycorrhiza no symbiosis

Non-mycorrhizal (NM)

forms little or no mycorrhiza — feeds itself directly, so it gains less from fungal soil networks

Deep dive — what these mean

Mycorrhiza NM — the root–fungus partnership it forms (AM = most plants; ECM = most forest trees; ERM = heaths; NM = none). Trades sugars for water & nutrients via shared soil networks.

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Stepladder Ginger Costus malortieanus

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