prayer plant

prayer plant, (Maranta leuconeura), flowering plant of the family Marantaceae, native to the New World tropics. It has spreading leaves that turn upward toward evening, seemingly in prayer for evening vespers. The plant can be grown as a ground cover in suitable climates and is a common houseplant in temperate regions.

The prayer plant is a low-growing evergreen perennial that spreads vegetatively with rhizomes. The brown blotches on either side of the midrib in young leaves change to emerald green and finally to moss green as they age, contrasting with the medium green leaf. Ornamental varieties have been developed with striking red venation, and the underside of the leaf is gray-green or purple-green. The purplish green leaf sheaths are ranked in two vertical rows, and new leaves emerge from the youngest leaf sheaths. The larger half of the new leaf is rolled around the smaller half as it emerges from the leaf sheath below it. A thickened area or pulvinus is present between each petiole (leafstalk) and leaf base and is responsible for the leaf’s movement. The flowers are borne in a small spike and are white to pale purple with purple blotches. Houseplants rarely bloom.