If you’re a houseplant enthusiast, chances are you’ve already seen or heard about the colorful, patterned prayer plants. You can find many cultivars of prayer plants in garden centers or plant shops, all of which belong to the Marantaceae plant family.
So, what are Marantaceae plants?
Marantaceae plants, also commonly known as arrow plants, are flowering plants that thrive in humid forest environments, moist soil, and partial shade. They’re known for their multicolored leaves that move!
Continue reading this article to learn about the Marantaceae plant’s distribution, common plant varieties, and their uses.
Things to Know About Marantaceae Plants
The first thing you might notice about Marantaceae plants in a plant shop is their colorful, ornamental leaves.
However, striking foliage isn’t the only distinctive characteristic of the leaves. You might have heard that the leaves move too! They’re flat throughout the day and fold at night, thus the name prayer plants.
Aside from the vegetative body, prayer plants have a unique pollination mechanism known as the secondary pollen mechanism.
Let’s delve deeper into the Marantaceae family’s traits!
Vegetative Body
The vegetative body of plants includes the root system, stems, and leaves. Marantaceae have shallow root systems, which can often lead to soggy soil when planted in deep pots.
Varieties of Marantaceae can have tubers or rhizomes. Tubers can result from stems or roots. They’re large, fleshy underground organs used for food storage.
Rhizomes, on the other hand, are modified stems that are usually less swollen and tend to grow horizontally, giving underground roots and upward shoots.
A lot of the prayer family plants have a maroon or white leaf bottom. Along the middle section of the leaf, you can see different colors or patterns, and all for a good reason.
Typically, Marantaceae plants grow as an understory in forests, so they don’t get much light to begin with. That’s when the colorful leaf base enters.
These purple pigments maximize light absorption by uptaking all light wavelengths—dark colors absorb more light, remember?
Not only that, but they pump the sunlight back to the green upper side of the foliage, preventing the light from going through the leaves.
Pulvinus—a swollen structure at the base of the leaves—is another characteristic you see in the Marantaceae plant’s leaves. This thickened part is what’s behind the prayer plants’ leaf movements.
Secondary Pollination Mechanism
As you know, Marantaceae have a sizable number of species, all thanks to how they pollinate. The prayer family plants use a secondary pollination mechanism to flower.
Marantaceae flowers have trigger-like staminodes, which are sterile. The sterile appendage holds the style, a stalk that leads to the flower’s ovary.
Now, what happens when a pollen vector, like an insect, touches the trigger-like stamen?
The style leaps forward, resulting in two actions: it scoops off foreign pollen from the insect and replaces it with its pollen.
This explosive mechanism increases the chances of successful pollination since the flower opens only for one day. Plus, the mechanism is irreversible, so it’s either a hit or a miss.
Common Plant List
Marantaceae has around 31 genera and over 500 species. Genera of the Marantaceae plants include Maranta, Calathea, Ctenanthe, Thalia, and Goeppertia.
Here are common plant varieties in each genus:
Maranta
This genus contains around 40—50 varieties, including Maranta leuconeura, the popular household prayer plant. Plants in this genus have rhizomes, beautifully patterned leaves that remain green for more than one growing season.
Other known species of this genus include Maranta arundinacea (arrowroot), which is famous for its edible roots.
Calathea
The Calathea genus contains around 60 varieties. Species of this genus make good household plants thanks to their large, decorative leaves.
Pink, orange, white, and red are among the colors this genus boasts through its varieties.
Aside from color, Calathea’s leaves have beautiful patterns. One particularly visually appealing pattern you can find is in Calathea zebrina.
As the name implies, the plant resembles a zebra as a result of lime green veins and margins present on a dark green ground color.
Goeppertia
Goeppertia is one of the largest genera in the family Marantaceae, containing over 240 species. A large portion of those varieties (200 species) were formerly placed in the genus Calathes.
Goeppertia plants have large leaves marbled with shades of white and pink on a green base. Rattlesnake calathea (Goeppertia insignis) is among the popular household plants of the genus.
Ctenanthe
Varieties of this genus are referred to as never-never plants. Ctenanthe contains over 10 varieties—all of which have attractive ornamental leaves.
Examples of plants in this small genus include Ctenanthe lubbersiana and Ctenanthe oppenheimiana. The former is commonly known as bamburanta, while the latter is known as giant bamburanta. They differ in stem branching and foliage design.
Bamburanta has branched leaves, irregular marbling, and a green leaf underside. Conversely, giant bamburanta has unbranched stems, distinctive stripes, and a purple underside.
Thalia
The Thalia genus is one of the smallest genera in the family Marantaceae, containing six varieties that are found in aquatic regions. Thalia dealbata is one of the members found in the US.
Commonly known as hardy canna, this plant has environmental importance. It breaks down pollutants in stagnant water like ponds and swamps, improving the water quality.
Seed Distribution of Marantaceae Plants
Seed distribution of the Marantaceae family depends on their region. However, generally, birds and mammals like bats are the major distributors of Marantaceae seeds.
Marantaceae plants produce fleshy, berry-like fruits that some birds and mammals feed on. These animals digest the fleshy part of the fruit and excrete the seeds with their droppings, which provide a rich environment for seeds to germinate.
Aside from birds and bats, insects (mainly ants and crickets) can disperse prayer plant seeds in tropical forests.
Regions Found
Marantaceae plants love humidity. As a result, they grow in tropical forests in North and South America, Asia, and Africa. Maranta plants are native to Central America. They’re also native to South America. They’re also found in Central America and the West Indies.
Geoppertia and Calathea plants grow in tropical regions in the Americas. Similarly, Ctenantheas are native to Central and South America. They’re mainly abundant in Brazil.
As for Thalia plants, they’re also abundant in the Americas, but you can find one variety, Thalia geniculata, in Africa as well.
Common Uses
Varieties of the family Marantaceae have many uses. As mentioned earlier, the starchy roots of Mantras are edible. Likewise, some regions cook Calathea’s tubers and flowers.
Aside from food, Marantaceae are popular ornamental household plants. Their hard leaves can also be used for wrapping food, basketry, and roofing.