Maranta leuconeura

Maranta leuconeura, widely known as the prayer plant due to its daily sunlight-dependent movements (which are said to resemble hands "in-prayer"), is a species of flowering plant in the familyMarantaceaenative to the Braziliantropical forests. It is a variable, rhizomatousperennial, 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.

Maranta, in-addition to fellow "prayer-plant" genera (like Calathea, Ctenanthe, Goeppertia and Stromanthe), is related to such groups as Alpinia, Ensete, Canna, Curcuma, Heliconia, Musa and Zingiber.