Goeppertia metallica
A medium-sized, forest-floor prayer plant from northwest South America, formerly Calathea metallica, with broad oval leaves banded in light and dark green and marked with silver. Leaf pattern varies a lot between plants, and the undersides are often flushed purple. Wild plants grow up to about 1 m tall in the shaded understory of warm lowland and foothill forest, mostly below 700 m, so they want warmth, shade and steady moisture.
Where it grows wild
Shaded understory of humid lowland and foothill forest, both primary and disturbed. It is especially frequent in the wet and seasonal forests of western Ecuador (Esmeraldas, Los RÃos, Pichincha) and the Colombian Pacific slope, with scattered records from the western Amazon. Labels describe primary and partly disturbed seasonal forest, roadside forest remnants and wet forest reserves.
Measured records run from 25 to 1150 m, median 200 m (67 records). Most western Ecuador collections are at 40–730 m; the 1150 m record is from Putumayo, Colombia.
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.