I first found this attractive plant on the grass by the roadside. Someone has uprooted the whole plant and discarded it. I broke off a young shoot with it roots and took it home and adopted it into my garden.
It has now grown into an adult plant and I have many times cut it down and it grew back again. It will grow back as long as there is rhizome remaining in the ground.
This is the Variegated Crepe Ginger or the Variegated Spiral Flag plant. Its scientific name is Cheilocostus Speciosus 'Variegatus' (the former Costus Speciosus 'Variegatus').
It is an evergreen plant. The leaves have streaks of green and white.
When the sun gets too hot, the leaves can easily get burnt.
Some of the leaves will be plain green without the white streaks.
Variegated Crepe Ginger are grown for its showy leaves with shades of green and white streaks.
The leaves grow alternating on the spiralling stems.
Some of the stems will grow upright. The stems are usually in red and green.
The stems can grow very tall and when they get too tall and heavy, they will fall over. I usually will cut off the stems that get too tall or have fallen over to keep it tidy and neat.
New shoots grow directly from the ground through rhizomes. The stems are round and thick and they are not woody.
If left uncontrolled, it will spread over the ground through underground rhizomes.
Variegated Crepe Ginger grows well in rich, moist and well drained garden soil. Propagation of new plants can be done by dividing of rhizomes.
Normally I will cut off the taller stems to keep the plants tidy. I only keep the younger stems so I have no chance to see the older stems bear flowers. The flowers are white in colour.
Medicinal uses:
- To lower fever - pound the leaves into paste and apply to forehead or boil parts of the plant and bathe patient with the water.
- Some community use the young shoots as vegetables. (Use with caution.)
Never speak harshly to an older man,
but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father.
Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers.
Treat older women as you would your mother, and
treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.
(1 Timothy 5:1-2, New Living Translation-NLT)
