1369.000 Calathea G. Mey.

Calathea 2084 Herbs, perennial, stems leafy at base, simple or rarely branched. Leaves vaginate, on long or short petiole, the sheath not produced at the apex. Inflorescence spicate, spikes sessile or pedunclulate; peduncle naked or bearing a single leaf, rarely 2 leaves; bracts usually spirally arranged and closely imbricate, rarely distichus; pairs of flowers usually more than 3 in each bract; sepals equal or nearly so, small or large; corolla tube equalling or much larger than sepals. Fruits capsules, small, cartilaginous thickened at apex, sometimes tricorniculate, crustaceous or harder. Seeds trigonous, convex dorsally, arillate.

Worldwide: 300 species in tropical America

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.