The prayer flora ’s ( Maranta leuconeura ) most striking and typical equipment characteristic is its wont of closing its leaves at the end of the day . Each hardening of folded leave takes on the appearance of praying bridge player , from which the industrial plant gets its name . Because the entreaty plant can not tolerate any amount of common cold , it is farm as a houseplant in all but a few areas .
Description
Step 1
The supplicant plant is a low - growing industrial plant aboriginal to Brazil . Emerging from a rhizomatous , or fleshy , tuber - like root , it uprise to just about 12 inches tall and about as across-the-board . Its ellipse leafage grow to 5 inches retentive and are mostly light-green but unremarkably variegated with lines and sphere of contrast gloss . The merchant ship of the leaves are grayish to purplish - cat valium , and small-scale blanched flowers sometimes emerge on flimsy spikes . The industrial plant ’s root and leaves react to light by opening early in the day and closing together in the eventide .
Growing Zone
As a strictly tropic plant life , the prayer plant is only winter - Thomas Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10b and 11a , as it can not tolerate temperatures below freezing . In the continental United States , this be a very small region that includes the southernmost tips of Florida and California . Elsewhere , it is well - accommodate to the warm humid environment that a terrarium provides , as its maximal size at maturity does not take over .
Culture
supplicant plants do well in an surround that closely resemble their natural native home ground . brilliant to temperate light with some tone , eminent humidness , systematically temperate temperature of at least 60 point Fahrenheit , and moist , well - run out soil are key to its success . Avoid direct sunlight that can do folio people of color to fade , and water less ofttimes from fall to late winter while the plant is hibernating . If maintaining the proper humidness degree is a job , the Missouri Botanical Garden suggests order the pot in a tray of tight pebbles .
Care
Prayer works are generally not bothered by disease or insects , though you may from time to time see wanderer mites or mealy bugs on the leaves . A substantial spray of cool water usually transfer them without harm the plants , as the leaves actually delight an periodic shower . leave the plant life in saturated soil too long may also make root putrefaction , which is well remedied by allowing the soil to dry before watering again . Prayer plants are propagated by division , best done in early fountain . Remove the industrial plant from the pot and shake off as much soil as potential , then issue through the root between the stems . Repot the divisions in a sensitive made up of one part soil , two parts peat and 1/2 part guts , and place in collateral light .
References
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