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Goeppertia orbifolia; photograph leandromatos, CC BY-SA, via GBIF CC BY-SAleandromatos, CC BY-SA, via GBIF

Goeppertia orbifolia (Linden) Borchs. & S.Suárez

Marantaceae · Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Goeppertia orbifolia, photograph juliaferreiradecarvalho9, CC BY-SA, via GBIFGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph Whoisjohngalt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph Fregisseur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 13 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.8°C
Record low 13.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,483mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September (October to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Goeppertia orbifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae. This prayer plant is sometimes known by its synonym Calathea orbifolia. It is endemic to Brazil, being a typical species of the Atlantic Forest. It is commonly kept as a houseplant in temperate zones for its ornamental leaves. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Goeppertia orbifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Goeppertia

Goeppertia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Marantaceae, native to the New World Tropics. It contains 243 accepted species, many of which were until recently assigned to Calathea. It was first described by Nees von Esenbeck in 1831, who erroneously erected another genus Goeppertia in 1836, which has now been synonymized with Endlicheria. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Goeppertia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Goeppertia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (940 mm of 1,340 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.7 °C against a yearly mean of 22.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

1,340 mm in the median year at the habitat, 940 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 190 mm, driest month August at 37 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 775 mm to 1,896 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,483 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,340 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.8 °C, the absolute minimum 13.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.7 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 12.3 °C to 19.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.6 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +14 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Goeppertia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Goeppertia orbifolia through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 15.7 °C; 1,340 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°34.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER13.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 22–37RH 63–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 27–3128 / 27–3127 / 26–3126 / 25–2924 / 22–2823 / 21–2623 / 21–2624 / 23–2625 / 24–2826 / 25–3027 / 25–3127 / 26–31
Night °C21 / 19–2221 / 19–2321 / 19–2320 / 17–2218 / 14–2116 / 13–2016 / 12–1916 / 13–1917 / 14–2019 / 16–2120 / 17–2220 / 18–22
Rain mm190 / 80–282160 / 82–212168 / 91–21883 / 60–17879 / 54–14560 / 53–14654 / 43–14637 / 30–10887 / 38–107118 / 48–138136 / 71–165168 / 92–202
DLI37 / 35–3937 / 36–3834 / 32–3630 / 28–3125 / 23–2622 / 22–2324 / 23–2428 / 27–2932 / 30–3235 / 33–3737 / 35–3937 / 36–38
RH %66 / 60–6866 / 61–6966 / 61–7065 / 62–7165 / 63–7065 / 62–6964 / 60–6863 / 59–6763 / 59–6764 / 59–6864 / 58–6965 / 60–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 4 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2089:2817 (-14.475, -39.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 4 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2089:2817 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_-39.375, lapse-corrected +14 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 205 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBrazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-14.782, -39.069 · in the densest population, 11 records (79% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 14 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 12 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 14 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Goeppertia orbifolia, photograph 1did not loadGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph 2did not loadGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph 3did not loadGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph 4did not loadGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph 5did not loadGoeppertia orbifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: juliaferreiradecarvalho9, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Whoisjohngalt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Fregisseur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Begonia maculata Begonia maculata Cane Begonia Photo: CC0, author not statedRhipsalis oblonga Rhipsalis oblonga Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, David MidgleyClusia lanceolata Clusia lanceolata Red-heart porcelain flower Photo: CC BY, Pablo Cauã da Silva ToledoVoacanga thouarsii Voacanga thouarsii Wild-frangipani Photo: CC BY, Sunčana BradleyDorstenia ramosa Dorstenia ramosa Moraceae Photo: CC BY, Victor Farjalla PontesJusticia plumbaginifolia Justicia plumbaginifolia Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Goeppertia 48 in the reference

Goeppertia aemula Marantaceae Goeppertia albertii Goeppertia albertii Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizGoeppertia allouia Goeppertia allouia Guinea arrowroot Photo: CC0, author not stated Goeppertia argyraea Marantaceae Goeppertia argyrophylla Goeppertia argyrophylla Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, B. PhalanGoeppertia bachemiana Goeppertia bachemiana Marantaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, James SteakleyGoeppertia burle-marxii Goeppertia burle-marxii Marantaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, KENPEIGoeppertia concinna Goeppertia concinna Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Magucination GuzmánGoeppertia crocata Goeppertia crocata Eternal Flame Photo: CC BY, Martin VallejosGoeppertia cylindrica Goeppertia cylindrica Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Victor Farjalla PontesGoeppertia ecuadoriana Goeppertia ecuadoriana Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Frank DietzeGoeppertia elliptica Goeppertia elliptica Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Gerry van Tonder all 49 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Calathea orbifolia; Calathea rotundifolia; Maranta orbifolia; Maranta rotundifolia; Phrynium rotundifolium and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Marantaceae
Described by
(Linden) Borchs. & S.Suárez
Native to
Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast
Wild records
14 in range · 12 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_-39.375, lapse-corrected +14 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…