Overview
Goeppertia sanderiana (Sander) Borchs. & S.Suárez is an accepted species within the genus Goeppertia Nees, family Marantaceae. Plants of the World Online records the species as a perennial growing primarily in the wet tropical biome, with a native range restricted to northern Peru [1]. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy records the accepted name at species key 7517855, consistent with the Plants of the World Online circumscription [3].
The genus Goeppertia Nees encompasses an estimated 260 accepted species. The great majority were transferred from Calathea G.Mey. by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince in 2012, following molecular phylogenetic analysis that demonstrated Calathea as then circumscribed was polyphyletic [2]. Goeppertia sanderiana is one of 246 new combinations published in that revision [2]. Plants of the World Online assigns the species the IPNI identifier 77130042-1 [1].
The trade continues to list this plant under Calathea sanderiana and sometimes under Calathea ornata 'Sanderiana', neither of which is the accepted name according to Plants of the World Online [1].
Nomenclature and synonymy
The accepted botanical name is Goeppertia sanderiana (Sander) Borchs. & S.Suárez. Plants of the World Online records the combination as first published in Systematic Botany 37: 634 (2012), the page within the Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince revision at which the new combination was formally established [1]. GBIF records the name at dataset key d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c, species key 7517855 [3].
The basionym is Maranta sanderiana Sander, published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, series 3, volume 11, page 731, in 1892 [1]. That original description placed the plant in the genus Maranta and established the specific epithet that all subsequent combinations have retained. The authority abbreviated as 'Sander' refers to Henry Frederick Conrad Sander (1847-1920), the nurseryman and orchid specialist whose firm introduced numerous tropical plants to cultivation in the late nineteenth century [1].
A first transfer out of Maranta was made by L. Gentil in 1907, producing the homotypic synonym Calathea sanderiana (Sander) L.Gentil, published in Plantes Cultivées dans les Serres du Jardin Botanique de Bruxelles, page 43 [1]. Plants of the World Online records this name as a synonym of the accepted species [1].
A heterotypic synonym also exists under the name Calathea contamanensis Huber. Plants of the World Online records the original publication of this name as Huber, Boletim do Museu Goeldi de História Natural e Ethnographia 4: 547, in 1906 [1]. The 2012 Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince revision is the authority for synonymising Calathea contamanensis under Goeppertia sanderiana, not for the original name itself [2]. A registry conflict exists on this point: the registry fact pack attributes the synonym row to the 2012 paper, which is correct as the source of the synonymisation act, but that attribution could be read as implying the 2012 paper is the originating publication of the name Calathea contamanensis. Plants of the World Online is unambiguous that the original name belongs to Huber in 1906, and a human reviewer should confirm the registry attribution is understood in that light [1][2].
The three synonyms recognised by Plants of the World Online are therefore: (1) Maranta sanderiana Sander (1892), basionym; (2) Calathea sanderiana (Sander) L.Gentil (1907), homotypic; and (3) Calathea contamanensis Huber (1906), heterotypic [1].
Description
Plants of the World Online records Goeppertia sanderiana as a perennial herb of the wet tropical biome [1]. Beyond this placement and the identification of the species as a perennial, limited authoritative sources are available describing the diagnostic morphological characters of this species in detail; further research needed.
Distribution
Plants of the World Online records the native range of Goeppertia sanderiana as northern Peru [1]. The species is described as occurring primarily in the wet tropical biome [1]. No further breakdown of Peruvian departmental distribution is provided in the Plants of the World Online entry, and no additional range data have been located in the authoritative taxonomic sources consulted for this page.
The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy records the species at key 7517855, consistent with the Plants of the World Online circumscription [3]. No conservation status assessment by the IUCN Red List has been identified for this species in sources consulted for this page. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.
As a wild species rather than a cultivar, Goeppertia sanderiana is not subject to plant breeders' rights or plant patent protection on the basis of the taxonomic records consulted. No plant patent covering this species or any cultivar of it has been located.
In cultivation
Goeppertia sanderiana is recorded as occurring in cultivation, consistent with the long horticultural history of the epithet dating to Sander's 1892 description in the Gardeners' Chronicle [1]. The name Calathea sanderiana appears in horticultural literature throughout the twentieth century as a synonym now superseded by the 2012 combination [2]. The synonymisation of Calathea contamanensis with this species, formalised through the 2012 revision, consolidates two names that had previously been applied to plants from the same Peruvian range into a single accepted taxon [2].
The Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince 2012 revision in Systematic Botany noted the continued horticultural use of Calathea names for species transferred to Goeppertia, a pattern that applies to this species [2]. The trade continues to list the plant under Calathea sanderiana and sometimes under Calathea ornata 'Sanderiana', neither of which is the accepted botanical name according to Plants of the World Online [1].
No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae. The International Society for Horticultural Science appoints such authorities for specific genera and families; Marantaceae is not among those for which an authority has been designated. The absence of an appointed authority means that no formal international register of Goeppertia cultivar epithets exists. The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants sets the rules under which cultivar epithets must be formed and published, but maintenance of a register depends on the existence of an appointed authority. No cultivars of Goeppertia sanderiana are recorded in the Digital Towns registry at the time of writing.
Digital Towns is an applicant aggregating nomenclatural evidence for Marantaceae; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operating under the International Society for Horticultural Science or any appointed cultivar registration authority. Limited authoritative sources available for the registration context specific to this family; further research needed.