Botanical name: Maranta leuconeura    Family: Marantaceae (Arrowroot family)

Prayer Plant is an amusing plant, and is so named for its habit of folding its leaves closed each night. Close to the evening the leaves start slowly folding up, until completely closed in the dark. Then it will open the leaves back again in the morning. It is a small tropical plant with broad oval leaves, up to 8 inches long by half as wide. Oval leaves have dark olive variegations creating a feather-like appearance or the look of rabbit tracks; new foliage is folded tightly and reddish on the underside. Flowers are borne on long stems, sometimes 4-5 flowers on one stem. They are beautiful lavender. Prayer Plant is native to the Brazilian tropical forests, cultivated worldwide as a pot plant.

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The flower labeled Prayer Plant is ...