284. RowLee: GENUS Costus IN CENTRAL AMERICA 
all jointed and unbranched stems being known as ‘“‘cana”’ and 
the tissues in the present instance being very bitter. The plants 
are fleshy throughout their whole body structure, and their 
tissues are saturated with water, so that it is difficult to make 
satisfactory herbarium specimens. Certain parts of the plant 
and especially the spikes are so saturated as they grow in the 
field that it is easy to wring water from them. In drying they 
change their form markedly, and it is therefore most desirable 
to make observations on specimens growing under natural 
conditions. The flowers in many cases are delicately colored 
and become fragile when pressed. 
The genus Costus, together with two or three other genera, 
belongs in the subfamily Costoideae of the family Zingiberaceae, 
the group being very distinct in its general characteristics from 
the other genera of the family. Two types have been recognized 
in the genus: in the first the floral spike is borne upon what may 
be called a normal leafy culm; in the second the floral spike 
develops upon a modified culm. In the first type the culms are 
designated as ‘‘not diverse;’’ in the second, as “diverse.” 
The species heretofore recorded from the Western Continent 
outside of South America have all belonged to the group in 
which the culms are not diverse. In the present paper two 
Central American species with diverse culms are reported and 
proposed as new. They are not closely related to each other, 
but each is represented by allied species in South America. The 
paper reports in addition an undescribed species from Central 
America in which the culms are not diverse and discusses the 
previously described Central American species. 
Key to the Central American species 
A. Culms diverse, the spikes borne on short bracteate 
pes. 
B. Bracts of spikes with foliaceous appendages 
CO AG 1. C. bracteatus 
BB. Bracts of spikes not appendiculate (Guate- 
Maley oo Sree) ee Basics 14 2. C. sepacuitensis. 
AA. Culms not diverse, the spikes borne on ordinary 
leafy ones. 
B. Bracts of spikes ae! a appendages. 
L. _ ovoid, 
. Plants i 2-3 m. tall; leaves 
about 30 cm. long, fuscous-hirsute, 
especially on the sheaths Fae 3. C. villosissimus. 
