PRAYER PLANT

also called praying hands (Maranta leuconeura variety kerchoveana) member of the family Marantaceae (order Zingiberales), native to the New World tropics. It has spreading leaves that turn upward toward evening. The plant is sometimes known as rabbits' tracks. The brown blotches on either side of the midrib in young leaves change to emerald green and finally to moss green, contrasting with the medium green leaf. The underside of the leaf is gray-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. The plant's stem is spindly compared with the sturdier, long, overlapping leaf sheaths that partly obscure it. Distinct, fine venation is present in the almost transparent leaf sheaths.