Michael, I have to habd it to you, I think you are correct. The first one IS C. stenophyllus. I went out and looked again, and yes, it seems at some time I did stick some C. stenophyllus in a container and shove it in the nether regions of the greenhouse, and forgot all about doing it. SO, it seems I have 3 containers of C. lazius to trade, as well as one container of C. stenophyllus (Bamboo Ginger, Snake Ginger) Not that it makes any difference, I can tell no one is going to trade anyway, LOL.

Lisa, I'm not sure what you mean about having a free style. Virtually every group of plants have styles distinct from the stamens. Orchids don't, but then they have a special term for the structures involved. In fact, gingers come about as close to a combined stamen/style as it gets without them actually being fused. Is what you are talking about that the style often forms a bowstring of sorts? It isn't supposed to do that. In cultivation it happens all the time but in the wild it is much more rare. More often the style is completely included in the groove of the filament. Yes, those pictures are of G. patens. I used to have a bunch of evergreens but the people in the greenhouse where I kept them didn't understand that and let them dry out with all the other Globbas one winter. Unfortunately it was too late before I figured out what was happening. I think all the flowers are hermaphrodites. My guess is that only the species in section Nudae have unisexual flowers. I'm surprised you don't have G. atrosanguinea. It is fairly commonly grown and has the reddest bracts of any Globba. Much more potential there. G. corneri is nice, I've only seen pictures though. Would love to get my hands on it someday. G. albobracteata is another white bracted evergreen species. But it has a much longer (almost stretched out looking) inflorescence. G. unifolia has red-orange bracts I believe (in the most common form, I have a all green form). G. curtissii doesn't have nice bracts to speak of but has a large many flowered inflorescence. It might be worth working with to try and cross with some of the compact evergreens with more color. Over time you might get lucky and get a large infl. with colorful bracts in an evergreen species. I just remembered G. fragilis. As the name suggests it is pretty small and delicate. But it is probably my favorite of the evergreen species. I only have one picture of it and it isn't that good. But the leaves have two white streaks on the leaves (one on either side of the midrib) and the lower surface is dark red-purple. The bracts are a distinctive firery yellow-orange color. I may send you the picture I have as you can see all these traits, even if you have to squint to make some of them out! 100 messages on this thread. Pretty good...even if two entirely different subjects have been discussed! -Kyle

Yo Lou..I've had one in the ground for 20+ years here in Merritt Island. Other trees have grown up and over it (very crowded yard) so only about 1/3 of it is in the sun but I get plenty of fruit from that portion. Should be fine growing in Floral City. Ned

Ian , feel the leaves of both species in question , Costus barbartus and Costus eyrthrocoryne are very similar looking , but have diferent textures , the C.barbartus has a slightly hairy texture under the leaf , other sp. is smooth. The 'Eskimo Kiss' has a terminal flower , so whoever sold you yours , has sent the wrong plant . I have made the same mistake myself .