Species · genus Goeppertia · Marantaceae

Calathea Warscewiczii

Goeppertia warszewiczii (Lem.) Borchs. & S.Suárez

Also known as: Jungle Velvet · Jungle Velvet Calathea · Velvet Calathea

Growth habit

perennial

Native range

Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá

Goeppertia warszewiczii — reference photo — Daderot · CC0

Cultivars of G. warszewiczii

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

No named cultivars catalogued under G. warszewiczii 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.

A Marantaceae rhizome plant

Goeppertia warszewiczii is an evergreen, rhizomatous perennial in the Marantaceae family, once classified under the genus Calathea. It forms a clump of elliptic, often strikingly patterned leaves, and is grown chiefly as a foliage houseplant since it seldom flowers indoors.

Source: RHS

Roots in Central America

This species is native to Central America, occurring naturally in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panamá. It is a perennial of the wet tropical biome, which speaks to its taste for moisture and warmth in the home.

Source: Kew

Clump-forming patterned foliage

The genus Goeppertia is known for evergreen, rhizomatous growth that builds into clumps of elliptic leaves, frequently marked with attractive patterning. Flowers, when they appear at all, come as racemes of small tubular blooms, though this is a rare event in cultivation.

Source: RHS

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 5-9d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 9 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

18–27 °C

Soil mix

Airy, moisture-retentive mix of peat/coir with perlite

Propagation

Division of the rootball at repotting

Fertilizing

Diluted balanced feed monthly through the growing season

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Can produce white-and-pink flower spikes indoors in good conditions

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Non-toxic to cats & dogs

Prayer-plant family (Marantaceae). ASPCA lists Calathea insignis (= Goeppertia insignis) non-toxic; the genus is uniformly safe. 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.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-9d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Calathea Warscewiczii yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.