Calathea orbifolia vs Prayer plant

Goeppertia orbifolia · Maranta leuconeura

Mature size: Calathea orbifolia reaches about 36 inches; Prayer plant tops out near 12. Buying the wrong one for a shelf means rehoming it in a year.

Why these two get mixed up

Both are sold as "prayer plant". That is not a nickname problem — a plant labelled prayer plant in a shop could be either of these, and they want different things.

Calathea orbifolia (Goeppertia orbifolia) — **Calathea orbifolia** — Goeppertia orbifolia. Photograph by Photo by David J. Stang, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 4.0.

Prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura) — **Prayer plant** — Maranta leuconeura. Photograph by Kurt Stüber [1], Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 3.0.

	Calathea orbifolia	Prayer plant
Scientific name	Goeppertia orbifolia	Maranta leuconeura
Family	Marantaceae	Marantaceae
Light floor	Low	Low
Water	4–8 days	4–8 days
Humidity floor	55%	50%
Mature height	18–36 in	6–12 in
Habit	clumping	spreading
Growth rate	moderate	moderate
Difficulty	Demanding	Moderate
Toxic to pets	No	No
Typical price	$20–60	$12–35

Highlighted cells are where the two actually differ. Everything else they share.

The differences that matter

Mature size

Calathea orbifolia reaches about 36 inches; Prayer plant tops out near 12. Buying the wrong one for a shelf means rehoming it in a year.

Habit

Calathea orbifolia grows clumping; Prayer plant grows spreading. That decides where each one physically works.

Which should you buy?

In a dim room, take either — both have a low light floor.
If you forget to water, take either.
If it is your first plant, take Prayer plant, at 3 of 5.
For a small shelf, take Prayer plant, which stops around 12 inches.

Full entries

Calathea orbifolia — care fields with sources, toxicity with every authority consulted, propagation and diagnosis. Prayer plant — the same.

Sources

This database's own care records for Goeppertia orbifolia and Maranta leuconeura — every figure compared above.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online — accepted names and families for Goeppertia orbifolia and Maranta leuconeura
ASPCA Animal Poison Control — toxicity classification for both, cited on each species entry
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, individually credited and licensed above

Compiled and edited by Tony Valcarcel · 2026-09-12
Every comparison above is drawn from a recorded field. Where the honest distinguisher is visual we show both photographs rather than describing a leaf we have no field for. How this is sourced.