📷 Jacob Saucier / iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0)
Field Guide · Calathea
Most prayer plants don't die of neglect — they die of tap water, dry air, and the wrong substrate, in roughly that order.
Still sold as Calathea orbifolia, this Bolivian species is the most forgiving of the silver-banded crowd. Leaves run 20–30 cm across with pale, almost pewter striping over deep green. It wants rainwater, 60% humidity, and a chunky mix — give it those three things and it stops sulking. The size also helps: bigger leaves desiccate more slowly than the thin-tissued species.
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