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Maranta arundinacea; photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-24

Maranta arundinacea L.

Arrowroot; West Indian arrowroot; Maranta

Marantaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +26 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Maranta arundinacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedMaranta arundinacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedMaranta arundinacea, photograph (c) cristianol1456, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Maranta arundinacea, photograph (c) cristianol1456, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Maranta arundinacea, photograph (c) 謝麗霦, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maranta arundinacea, photograph (c) Claudio Cantú Muñiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) 67 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.9°C
Record low 9.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,422mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–42DLI
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 June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Maranta arundinacea, also known as arrowroot, maranta, West Indian arrowroot, obedience plant or Bermuda arrowroot is a large, perennial herb found in rainforest habitats of the Americas, but cultivated in tropical regions worldwide.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Maranta arundinacea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Maranta 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 (1,092 mm of 1,390 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.1 °C against a yearly mean of 25.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,390 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,092 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 257 mm, driest month March at 21 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,008 mm to 2,614 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,422 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,390 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 42 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 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.9 °C, the absolute minimum 9.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 12.7 °C to 22.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.4 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.9 °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: 57 to 67% 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 +35 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 Maranta 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

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Maranta arundinacea through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.6 °C; 1,390 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, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°39.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 26–42RH 57–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 496 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 °C27 / 23–3028 / 24–3230 / 26–3431 / 28–3531 / 28–3630 / 27–3429 / 26–3429 / 26–3429 / 25–3228 / 25–3128 / 24–3027 / 23–30
Night °C19 / 13–2219 / 13–2320 / 14–2322 / 16–2423 / 18–2523 / 18–2523 / 18–2523 / 18–2523 / 18–2522 / 17–2421 / 15–2319 / 13–23
Rain mm33 / 6–10325 / 7–8621 / 4–6035 / 4–9197 / 22–203222 / 142–354218 / 152–373243 / 160–415257 / 177–455152 / 90–34853 / 19–21034 / 7–155
DLI28 / 23–3533 / 28–3938 / 34–4442 / 38–4841 / 36–4737 / 32–4037 / 32–4136 / 32–4032 / 29–3631 / 28–3428 / 25–3326 / 22–33
RH %60 / 53–6758 / 52–6657 / 51–6458 / 50–6460 / 53–6665 / 59–6965 / 59–7065 / 60–7067 / 63–7265 / 61–7062 / 57–6861 / 55–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 496 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (666 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1429:1563 (18.525, -101.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.4 °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 496 distinct grid cells holding 666 of the 667 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1429:1563 (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 18.50_-101.875, lapse-corrected +35 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 531 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central · introduced: Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Mauritius, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Kazan-retto, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Florida, Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago · 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 marker16.791, -93.233 · in the densest population, 720 records (57% 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 1253 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 666 of them in the land cells it reads, of 667 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1045 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 25 km away. 167 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 586 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 1253 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Maranta arundinacea, photograph 1did not loadMaranta arundinacea, photograph 2did not loadMaranta arundinacea, photograph 3did not loadMaranta arundinacea, photograph 4did not loadMaranta arundinacea, photograph 5did not loadMaranta arundinacea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) cristianol1456, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) 謝麗霦, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Claudio Cantú Muñiz, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Coccoloba barbadensis Coccoloba barbadensis Polygonaceae Photo: CC BY, Douglas Caro LopezAphelandra scabra Aphelandra scabra Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezBaltimora recta Baltimora recta Beautyhead Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezAcalypha alopecuroidea Acalypha alopecuroidea Foxtail copperleaf Photo: CC BY, nasuaDistimake cissoides Distimake cissoides Roadside Woodrose Photo: CC0, Dennis WhiteLagascea mollis Lagascea mollis Silkleaf Photo: CC BY, Alberto Alcalá

Other Maranta 4 in the reference

Maranta cristata Maranta cristata Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Josh BaryiaMaranta leuconeura Maranta leuconeura Prayerplant Photo: CC0, author not statedMaranta sobolifera Maranta sobolifera Marantaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Trap Hers Maranta testudinea Marantaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Maranta arundinacea f. sylvestris; Maranta arundinacea subsp. indica; Maranta arundinacea subsp. sylvestris; Maranta arundinacea subsp. variegata; Maranta arundinacea var. arundinacea and 8 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Marantaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +25
Wild records
1253 in range · 1045 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; 19 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (12 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-101.875, lapse-corrected +35 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media 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 133 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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