Like its cousin, common Ginger, the rhizomes of Cana Agria have many medicinal properties. They taste like nectar and I have been hooked ever since! Usually, I just like to nibble on them fresh as I walk past, but they can also be collected and used as a tasty salad garnish. Pick the little yellow flowers that emerge from the red cone. These beautiful types of Costus Gingers are seen growing throughout Costa Rica and line both roadsides and beaches in particular. Latin binomial: Costus woodsonii- Red Button Ginger AND Costus barbatus- Spiral Flag Ginger With a crisp and moist texture they are wonderful for salads and sandwiches, added to soups or pasta dishes or used as a tasty and fun element for dips.Ĭautions/Contraindications: Contains oxalic acid and should be avoided by people with kidney issues, gout or rheumatism.ĬANA AGRIA Image by author, Scott GallantĬommon name: Cana agria (Spanish) Spiral Flag or Red Button Ginger (English) The colourful blossoms can also add a creative and beautiful dimension to cocktails and refreshments! The wax varietals are more fleshy and can be consumed raw or cooked. The blossoms of the tuberous varieties have a lemony- citrus taste and the petals can be eaten raw and used in salads or fresh dishes as a garnish for the plate. The whole flower of both tuberous and wax Begonias are edible. These stunning flowering bushes are a common ornamental in Costa Rica, though are generally new to cultivation in Central America. Latin binomial: Tuberous- Begonia x tuberhybrida and Wax- B. x semperflorens-cultorum Hibiscus can decrease blood sugar and blood pressure levels.Ĭommon name: Begonia (Spanish) Begonia (English) Like many Malvaceae family flowers, many Hibiscus species are edible.Ĭautions/Contraindications: Do not use (particularly in large amounts) if you are on Diabetes or HBP medication. Amapola is typically red though varietals come in many different colours. As a tea, Hibiscus is tasty and helpful for the blood/circulation, digestion and for Women’s health issues. It can be a beautiful garnish to a salad, as a decoration for special cakes and deserts, or as a side garnish of a main plate. This juicy ‘goo’ is from Amapola’s very beneficial healing mucilage content which helps sooth all the mucous membranes in the body. It has a cranberry-citrus, nourishing flavour that is slightly sour, sweet and a bit juicy in texture. This species is called "Snake Costus," because the oval inflorescences borne on thick curved stalks resemble snakes.Common name: Amapola (Spanish) Hibiscus (English)Īn abundant and beautiful edible flower that you can find lining most yards and back roads in Costa Rica. The species epithet " stenophyllus" is derived from the Latin words for narrow ("steno") and leaf ("phyllus"). The genus " Costus" is Latin for fragrant plant. Potted plants will eventually need to be divided and re-potted, because the rhizome will outgrow the pot. Individuals should be spaced 0.3 - 0.4 m apart. Plant this species in fertile, well-drained, but moist soil that is slightly acidic to neutral (pH = 6 - 7.5). Its fruits are fleshy, containing black, oval seeds surrounded by white fleshy tissue. Only large, mature plants produce inflorescences while the true flowers are yellow and tubular. The oval Inflorescences occur singly and are borne on thick, curved stalks that arise from the bottom of the plant. Its flowers emerge between the red scale-like bracts of the spike inflorescence. The young stems have light and dark green stripes which matures to brown and white resembling the appearance of bamboo grass. Especially in the younger leaves, they are slightly folded inwards along the midvein. They have a smooth to wavy leaf margin, pointed tip, spirally arranged along the top half of the plant. Its foliage are thin and linear-lanceolate, pubescent on the upper surface. It is an evergreen spiral ginger which can grow to a height of 2 m and uncharacteristically straight, erect stems that only spiral slightly at the top.
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