Species · genus Calathea · Marantaceae

Cuban Cigar Plant

Calathea lutea (Aubl.) E.Mey. ex Schult.

Also known as: Pampano

Growth habit

perennial

Native range

Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is.

Reference · C. lutea

Cultivars of C. lutea

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under C. lutea yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Calathea lutea is a tropical understory perennial from the humid forests of Central and South America, so it wants warmth, steady moisture, and bright indirect light rather than direct sun, which scorches its broad leaves. Keep the mix lightly moist but never waterlogged: water when the top inch of mix has just dried, hedging toward the dry side to avoid rot. It is a true humidity-lover and resents dry indoor air.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 10 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

16–27 °C

Soil mix

Rich, moisture-retentive mix with coir and perlite

Propagation

Divide the rhizome clump

Fertilizing

Balanced feed monthly through spring and summer

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Can throw yellow bracts, but grown mainly for bold foliage

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Non-toxic to cats & dogs

Calathea (Marantaceae) — ASPCA non-toxic (Calathea insignis); the prayer-plant family carries no toxic principle. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Cuban Cigar Plant yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.