Prayer Plants

 
I don't have anything interesting from today to picture, so I'm going back to collect a few shots of Prayer Plants. These are interesting tropicals that make good houseplants.

All are in the family Marantaceae. I don't have a picture of the most common one, Maranta leuconeura. They get their name because the leaves raise up in the evening, as if saying vespers or evening prayers. And the leaves are the outstanding feature... the flowers aren't much of anything.

The three best-known genera are Maranta, Calathea, and Stromanthe I can show you selections from two of these.

Here is Calathea amagris. I'm guessing the "gris" refers to the gray coloration of the leaves. I like white leaves, so this is a winner with me.



Calathea majestica has big leaves with pink color.



And I've showed you this one before, but it was an artsy kind of picture. This just shows the plant better. I like this one too because of the bold pattern. This is Calathea lancifolia, sometimes called Rattlesnake Plant (but there are a ton of plants with that or a similar common name).



Here's the Stromanthe cousin, Stromanthe sanguinea, as in bloody- probably because of the red undersides of the leaves.



In other news: I wrote in the morning, revising a chapter of North Country Quest that I felt needed some more work. In the afternoon, I kept banging away at that list of stuff I need to get gone, sorted a little more in my office, and started cleaning up a trailer window. But I haven't done enough yet to bother talking about it. Am still trying to figure out what I'm doing. Lots of rain today and strong winds that even blew over the picnic table on the deck!

	See A Mini Plant Show
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