Prayer plant
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Difficult One of the harder ones, and one of the reasons the diagnosis tool exists.
Also called Cathedral Windows, Herringbone Plant, prayerplant, Rabbit Tracks, Red-Veined Prayer Plant and Ten Commandments.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
- Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
- Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
- Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
What the sources say about its care
- Light
- Medium light 100–150 fcClemson Extension, filed as Maranta leuconeura cv. Erythroneura · read 13 September 2026Full shade, Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Moist but well-drained or Well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H1B — 10–15°C 10–15 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand; pH Acid or Alkaline or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Leaf tips go crisp and brown
A narrow dry border on the prayer plant, often with a faint yellow line against the healthy tissue. It appears on several leaves at once rather than spreading from one.
Heated air holds less water than the plant loses into it, so moisture leaves the leaf faster than it arrives. Penn State Extension cites ASHRAE's indoor range of 30% to 60% relative humidity, and winter heating often takes a room below it.
Telling it apart: When it started. Edges that browned as the heating came on point at air; edges that browned through a wet summer do not.
Penn State ExtensionPrayer plant brown leaf tips and edges: causes- New leaves arrive smaller and paler than the ones below
Growth on the side of the prayer plant away from the light slows or stops, so the plant becomes lopsided over a few months.
Light is the budget every other process is paid from. Under the medium light its source names, the plant spends down reserves and shows it in thin, pale growth.
Telling it apart: Spacing. A plant short of light stretches; one short of nitrogen keeps its spacing and only loses colour.
Clemson ExtensionPrayer plant leaves turning yellow: causes- Yellow, limp leaves at the base
On a prayer plant the yellowing climbs from below. Affected leaves feel limp rather than papery, and water sits in the saucer long after it drains through.
Soil described as moist but well-drained or well-drained is a drainage instruction as much as a watering one. Compost that stays saturated suffocates the fine roots that do the drinking.
Telling it apart: The soil, not the leaf. Wet compost under yellowing leaves points one way and dry compost the other, and the leaves alone will not tell you which.
RHSPrayer plant leaves turning yellow: causes
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Prayer plant.
Routine care
- Watering
- Through the growing season keep the potting soil evenly moist, then water less in winter so the soil can dry out.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Water moderately and feed once a month. In winter, less water is needed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- Too much fertilizer or high fluoride levels cause leaf burn.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Give moderate water and a monthly feed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- Divide the rhizomes to propagate.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Increase from seed, division or basal cuttings.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Pruning is not needed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by mealybugs and glasshouse red spider mite. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Maranta leuconeura, widely known as the prayer plant due to its daily sunlight-dependent movements, is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae native to the Brazilian tropical forests. It is a variable, rhizomatous perennial, growing to 30 cm (12 in) tall and broad, with crowded clumps of evergreen, strikingly-marked oval leaves, each up to 12 cm (5 in) long. The plant spreads itself horizontally, carpeting an entire small area of forest floor, sending roots into the substrate at each leaf node.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- C. & E. BrazilWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026BrazilNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- wet tropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- subshrubWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Perennial; habit clumping, spreadingNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Clump forming (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 6–12 in; width 6–24 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height 0.1-0.5 metres; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 5–10 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers purple/lavender, whiteNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers white in summer; purple in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
Common problems with Prayer plant
Other Maranta
More of the Marantaceae family
Peacock plantLeaf tips go crisp and brown
Alberta Prayer PlantSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
BamburantaSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Calathea MedallionSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Ctenanthe amabilisSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Eternal Flame PlantSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Plants with similar care
Elephant earCrisp margins that appear in winter
Moth orchidCrisp margins that appear in winter
Nerve plantDry, curled edges on leaves near a heater
Rex begoniaBrown brittle margins with a green centre
AlocasiaBrown brittle margins with a green centre
- No photograph yetVenus flytrapA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Clemson Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.