Maranta is known as the prayer plant: by day its leaves lie flat, and in the evening they rise and fold together like hands in prayer. Besides this habit, it is loved for its patterned leaves with bright veins and blotches. It is not the easiest houseplant, but once you understand what it needs it stays beautiful for years.
Houseplants delivered: potted plants.
The movement follows the plant’s daily rhythm. At the base of each leaf is a small swelling, the pulvinus, whose cells change their water pressure to raise or lower the leaf depending on the light. Botanists call this nyctinasty; other plants, such as wood sorrel, do it too.
Maranta belongs to the arrowroot family and comes from the rainforests of Brazil. It is named after Bartolomeo Maranta, a 16th-century Italian physician and botanist. Most plants sold are Maranta leuconeura and its forms: with red veins, with dark “rabbit tracks” along the midrib, or with silvery patterns. Its closest relatives are calatheas and ctenanthes.
The prayer plant is considered safe for cats and dogs, so it suits homes with pets. More plants that thrive in indirect light: “Foliage houseplants”; common care errors: “Houseplant care mistakes”.
When the plant lacks light or is weakened, the movement becomes less noticeable. Give it more indirect light.
They are close relatives in the same family. Marantas are usually lower and more spreading, while many calatheas have larger leaves growing in a rosette.
Author: Maria Svitlovir
Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.
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