Calathea spiralis
A tall prayer plant of the cloud forests of Costa Rica and western Panama, growing 1.2–2.5 m tall on the Caribbean slopes at about 1100–1600 m. Collectors describe matte, velvety dark green leaves with a pale cream midrib, cream bracts and white flowers. It needs cool, constantly humid, shaded conditions rather than the warm lowland treatment most Calathea get.
Where it grows wild
A large terrestrial herb of wet montane and cloud forest, often by streams and in swampy patches inside the forest. Herbarium labels mention cloud forest at Tapantí and Braulio Carrillo, small wet forest remnants and a marshy zone at 1400 m.
Recorded at 622–2000 m, median 1350 m; most dated specimens lie between 1100 and 1600 m on the Caribbean side of the Talamanca and Central Volcanic ranges.
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The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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More Calathea
Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.