Stromanthe

Stromanthe Sond. is an accepted genus of the family Marantaceae, the prayer-plant family in the order Zingiberales. Plants of the World Online (POWO), maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, confirms the genus as accepted and places it within Marantaceae R.Br. [1]. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (dataset d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c) independently records Stromanthe Sond. as an accepted genus within the same family [2].

Stromanthe is a Neotropical genus and is distinct from the closely related genera Calathea G.Mey., Goeppertia Nees, Ctenanthe Eichler, Maranta L. and Thalia L., all of which belong to Marantaceae. POWO does not synonymise Stromanthe under any of these genera [1]. Readers searching for genera whose accepted names were revised by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince in 2012 should note that those revisions affected Calathea and Goeppertia; the name Stromanthe Sond. was not subject to that revision and carries no equivalent transfer history.

The registry carries four cultivar epithets for Stromanthe: 'Valmic', sourced to U.S. Plant Patent PP15475 [4]; 'ROTOLANTE10', sourced to U.S. Plant Patent PP25760 [5]; 'Stripestar', documented as nomenclatural evidence through its mention in PP15475 [4]; and 'Magic Star', for which no primary source has been located.

POWO, facilitated by the World Checklist of Vascular Plants at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, records Stromanthe Sond. as comprising 20 accepted species as of retrieval on 2026-08-14 [1]. The registry currently carries an estimate of 13 accepted species for the genus. This discrepancy is recorded as a conflict in the registry and has been flagged for human review; the POWO figure of 20 is the primary-authority value. Neither figure is silently adopted here.

The native range of the genus, as recorded by POWO, extends from Mexico to Tropical America [1]. Accepted species are distributed across Central America, the Caribbean, and northern and eastern South America, extending south to Bolivia. POWO records Stromanthe tonckat (Aubl.) Eichler as ranging from Trinidad and southern Mexico to southern Tropical America, growing primarily in the wet tropical biome [1]. Stromanthe jacquinii (Roem. and Schult.) H.Kenn. and Nicolson is recorded as native from Central America to Ecuador [1].

The genus is characterised by its placement within Marantaceae and its Neotropical distribution. POWO accepts Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson as a species within the genus [1], a taxon also documented in this registry through U.S. Plant Patent PP25760 [5]. The circumscription is underwritten by the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, and POWO is the primary nomenclatural reference used throughout this registry entry [1].

The genus Stromanthe was established by the German botanist Otto Wilhelm Sonder. POWO records the protologue as published in Neue Allgemeine Deutsche Garten- und Blumenzeitung 5: 225, in 1849 [1]. The authority for the genus name is attributed solely to Sonder, abbreviated in standard botanical format as Sond., and no subsequent change of authorship at the genus level has been recorded by POWO [1].

Sonder (1812-1881) was a German pharmacist and botanist whose taxonomic work encompassed both southern African and South American plants. GBIF records the accepted genus name as Stromanthe Sond. within Marantaceae, consistent with the POWO record [2].

At the species level, POWO records the accepted name of the most widely cultivated species as Stromanthe sanguinea (Reider) Sond., placing the combination authority with Sonder [3]. A second species represented in this registry, Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson, is accepted by POWO within the genus [1] and is the subject of U.S. Plant Patent PP25760, granted 2015-07-28 [5].

The genus name Stromanthe has not been subject to the large-scale transfer operations that reshaped the genera Calathea and Goeppertia within the same family following the 2012 revision by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince. POWO treats Stromanthe as a discrete accepted genus, distinct from those affected genera [1].

The registry does not currently hold standalone species pages for Stromanthe. Cultivar entries in the registry reference two accepted species. Stromanthe sanguinea (Reider) Sond. is the species from which the cultivar 'Valmic' arose, as described in U.S. Plant Patent PP15475, granted 11 January 2005 [4]. POWO confirms Stromanthe sanguinea (Reider) Sond. as an accepted species with a native range in Brazil [3]. Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson is the species documented in U.S. Plant Patent PP25760, granted 28 July 2015, as the parent species of the cultivar 'ROTOLANTE10' [5]. POWO accepts this species within Stromanthe [1].

The registry seeded subset of two species-level references sits against a POWO-recorded total of 20 accepted species for the genus as of 2026-08-14 [1]. The remaining species are not currently represented by registry entries. The counting rule this registry applies is to state the seeded subset explicitly against the accepted total rather than presenting the subset in isolation.

The registry holds four cultivar epithets for Stromanthe. Three are described below from primary sources; the fourth is addressed separately.

'Valmic' is the cultivar epithet recorded in U.S. Plant Patent PP15475, granted 11 January 2005. The patent names Oscar R. Valstar of Maasland, the Netherlands, as inventor. It describes 'Valmic' as a naturally occurring whole-plant mutation, classified as a sport, discovered in 1999 within a growing population of the cultivar 'Stripestar' at Honselersdijk, the Netherlands. The parent species is Stromanthe sanguinea (Reider) Sond. [4]. The trade designation Triostar is in wide commercial use in association with this plant. That designation does not appear in U.S. Plant Patent PP15475, and no authoritative source establishing its provenance has been located by this registry [4]. The trade designation Triostar is therefore recorded as nomenclatural evidence only and is not citable as a prose source in this registry.

'ROTOLANTE10' is the cultivar epithet and patent denomination recorded in U.S. Plant Patent PP25760, granted 28 July 2015. The patent names Denis Rotolante of Homestead, Florida, and Charles W. McDaniel as co-inventors, with Silver Krome Gardens Inc. named as assignee. The plant is described as a selection of Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson. No trade designation is mentioned in that patent [5].

'Stripestar' is recorded in this registry as nomenclatural evidence. The epithet appears in the parentage statement of U.S. Plant Patent PP15475, which identifies the parent population from which 'Valmic' arose as the cultivar 'Stripestar' [4]. No independently located primary source for 'Stripestar' itself has been found. No originator is documented. This cultivar predates any registration authority for Marantaceae.

'Magic Star' is listed in this registry without a located primary source. No originator is documented. This cultivar predates any registration authority for Marantaceae.

U.S. plant patents have a statutory term of 20 years from the date of application. The patent for 'Valmic' (PP15475, granted 2005-01-11) is therefore expired as of 2026 under standard USPTO term calculation, though the patent document remains a public record and the primary source for originator and parentage data [4]. The patent for 'ROTOLANTE10' (PP25760, granted 2015-07-28) has a 20-year term running from its application filing date as stated in the patent record [5]. Patent term expiry does not affect the cultivar epithet or its nomenclatural status.

The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) requires that a cultivar epithet be enclosed in single quotation marks and not italicised. All epithets in this registry entry follow that convention. The name-class separation between a registered epithet (such as 'Valmic'), a patent denomination (such as 'ROTOLANTE10'), and a trade designation (such as Triostar) is maintained throughout. A patent that does not mention a trade designation does not establish it.

No International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) has been appointed for Marantaceae. The registration of cultivar names in this family is therefore not governed by any appointed authority under the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) framework [6]. The registry fact pack for this genus records icra_authority as null and dt_is_icra as false.

In the absence of an appointed ICRA, cultivar names in Stromanthe and the broader Marantaceae family lack a centralised register. The primary sources for originator identity, parentage and denomination in cultivated Marantaceae are consequently U.S. and international plant patents and peer-reviewed botanical literature. Dated trade catalogue records are admissible as nomenclatural evidence to establish first use of a name, but are not admissible as prose sources in this registry.

Digital Towns is an applicant and aggregator. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operating under the authority of the ISHS or any ICRA.

Each row in this registry records a name, a name type, a source, and a source date. The name types used for Stromanthe entries are: accepted_epithet (the ICNCP cultivar epithet, in single quotation marks, not italicised), patent_denomination (the denomination as it appears in the primary patent record), and trade_designation (a marketing name or trademark). These three classes are never conflated in registry prose.

A name marked citable_in_prose in the registry has a primary source that meets the editorial standards of this registry. 'Valmic' and 'ROTOLANTE10' are citable in prose, sourced respectively to U.S. Plant Patent PP15475 [4] and U.S. Plant Patent PP25760 [5]. 'Stripestar' is citable in prose through its mention as parentage in PP15475 [4], but no independent primary source for that cultivar has been located. 'Magic Star' and the trade designation Triostar are recorded as nomenclatural evidence only and are marked not citable in prose.

Where the registry value and a primary-authority figure differ, the conflict is stated explicitly and flagged for human review rather than resolved editorially. The species count conflict between the registry estimate of 13 and the POWO figure of 20 accepted species [1] is an example of this practice. A human reviewer resolves such conflicts; this page states both values and identifies the source of each.

Taxonomic backbone references in this registry entry are drawn from POWO (retrieved 2026-08-14) [1] and the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (dataset d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c, retrieved 2026-08-11) [2]. Cultivar and originator data are drawn from the primary USPTO patent records [4][5]. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.