The Kind Window
Houseplant news, notes and know-how from a painter’s window in Asheville, North Carolina
Curiosities
The prayer plant lays its leaves flat by day and folds them up at night. Here's how it does it.
The prayer plant (Maranta) spreads its leaves flat during the day to soak up light, then folds them upward at night, like hands in prayer. That's where the name comes from.
It's not your imagination. A tiny joint at the base of each leaf, called a pulvinus, changes shape as the light fades and lifts the leaf. Its cousins, the calatheas, do something similar.
Bonus: both are on the ASPCA's list of plants that are non-toxic to cats and dogs.
General information only, not professional, veterinary or medical advice. See our Terms of Use.
Every plant person, about an hour before coming home with the soil… and four new plants.
The honest answer: not by much. Where the idea came from, and what the research says.
Naming plants is one of the small joys of keeping them.
