Cultivar on Stromanthe?

I recently acquired this large plant at a flea market for a good price. I was told it was a variegated ginger.

When I posted for an ID, I found it is supposed to be a Stromanthe. I am adding it to my journal and would like to know the cultivar.

I have been searching. Not just the PlantFiles http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/search.php?q=stromanthe but also various tropical plants sites and Google searches and have yet to find this one.

The leaves are a mostly solid green ~ top and bottom. There is minor variegation on some. It almost appears to be two different plants but it all comes from one base plant.

Does anyone here grow a plant like this? Can you tell me the cultivar?

In advance, thanks ~ pod

Not Stromanthe but rather Ctenanthe: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53679/

and another: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57981/

I had a large one that ended up dead ... I did get two small cuttings rooted from it though.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2008 10:36 AM

Plantladylin to the rescue! I feel like I've been barking up the wrong tree. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

I will need to go do more research as the leaves on those look narrower and more colorful than these. I do appreciate more knowledge about the care required. Do you know why yours died? How difficult were the cuttings?

Once again, I appreciate your knowledge. Thanks pod

LOL, Pod ... yeah ^_^ I know why mine died! It got stuck out in a corner of the yard in the pot, in an area where the sprinklers don't reach ... never planted and kinda forgotten! I'm surprised I didn't hear the poor thing screaming for a drink! I had taken some cuttings and rooted last year for trades so I do still have a real small one, that needs repotting badly ... roots out the bottom of the little pot.


edited to say: I think the variegation in the foliage is more pronounced when it is in brighter light. No direct sun ... at least that's what I remember reading, but it does like bright light.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2008 11:12 PM

Look at its blooms as Plantladylin posted, the inflo. does resemble those of gingers of various kind. (I'm camping out here to learn more). :-)

I noticed it has a pretty strong water requirement. Not sure I like that. Also not too cold hardy... I had already noticed it wilting in need of watering and some dead leaf foliage at the base when I found it.

Hiya Kim! Help us out here... lol

Blooms? I don't think it blooms. If it does, they are probably very inconspicuous.

Yeah ... requires much water and is not very cold hardy!

Just found this: http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Marantaceae/Ctenanthe.html Are they related to Stromanthe? When I first got mine I thought it was a Stromanthe and someone told me it was an entirely different plant.


edited to say: and related to Calathea? http://www.gflora.com/index.php?cmd=genus_body&genus_id=165

This message was edited Apr 16, 2008 11:18 PM

Oh dear, I may have to put it in my garage sale and ship it... It is pretty but I am trying to pare down on the need plant care this year. That serves me right for impulse buying! LOL

Oooh .... I love variegated foliage and look at this: http://msuplants.com/pd.asp?pid=3612

Pod, as I recall, I did have that same plant some time in the past. It's only a memory now. It's really tropical as tropical can get zone 11!!!
Plantladylin, the various links showed picture of their flowers, and you're right they're not very noticeable. The foliages are attractive, but that is.
Kim.

Lily ... Sometimes the foliage is so wonderful I don't care about the flowers anyway! LOL. I Love plants with variegated foliage!

I agree, I've many plants that I strictly grow for foliages. I love them all. ^_^

Odd... I've always found variegated foliage plants to require more care. I love the MSU link but my foliage is no where near that busy. LOL

I find the foliage I like is spear type... Glads, Aspidistra, Iris, Sanseviera, Crocosmia, Crinums, Aloes, etc... I'm plain happy looking at them even if these types of plants dont' bloom even.

Lin, I love that last site you sent us to with that plant related to a prayer plant! Awesome looking and would love to find.

Gail: Looks like Glasshouseworks has it! Scroll down the page to Ctenanthe:

http://www.glasshouseworks.com/trop-c4.html

Uh oh.................I only ordered one time from GHW with disastrous results on begonias..........but may have to try one more time! Thanks, Lin
gail

I've never ordered from there but I bet there are other places who have it too ... I'm going googling again!

Well ~ I'm reviving this to say I found blooms on this guy. I had photos but then my computer had to go in for a visit to the computer wizard. I may have lost those photos.

I was intending to post them but the more I read the more confused I got... I looked at Marantas, Calatheas, Stromanthe, Ctenanthe.

On one of my better reference books indicates the Ctenanthe is the one that delivers the blooms. I think it is closest to the Ctenante, so I wanted to say thanks for the excellent advice. Should I be able to retrieve the photos or find more, I will post them. Thanks much, pod

Oh, I hope you can retrieve your photo's ... I had no idea Ctenanthe bloomed! But, I had never heard of it before a couple of years ago and rarely see them in the garden centers.

It is tiny insignificant blue blooms, the old computer is still in the shop and I half hope he can save the photos. Half hope he can't too! LOL Right now, the poor thing got scorched. We had DHs shop burn and it was so hot the plants with larger leaves got damaged. I am waiting to see what leaves and I will trim them back. Will also look for blooms.

This one in PlantFiles appears a different color... see Kniphofias' bloom photo. Not sure why but I can't link photos.

That is so cool! I wonder if there are many different cultivars then, if yours has blue blooms? That photo of Knip's sure doesn't show blue flowers.

I found this when googling, foliage looks very similar but it doesn't say anything about flowers: http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Marantaceae/Ctenanthe_pilosa.html