it seems to me that the plant found online as Maranta leuconeura var kerchoveana/Maranta leuconeura 'Kerchoveana' etc looks exactly like Maranta depressa.
and the DB entry for M. leuconeura contains pics of M leuconeura kerchoviana.
the variegation is distinctly different.
Is M. leuconeura 'Kerchoveana' a cultivar? a synonym of M. depressa? i cannot find any info online. perhaps the pictures need to be moved?

According to the Catalogue of Life, Maranta leuconeura var. kerchoveana is a synonym for M. leuconeura/


edited: I submitted a database proposal to add the synonym to the species entry.

but if you google you'll see that the variegation is totally different. how can it be the same plant?

I wonder if there's anyone here knowledgeable about Maranta. I see what you mean about the differences in some of the photos at the database link for M. leuconeura. I wonder if some of them are M. depressa and others just different cultivars of M. leuconeura or perhaps some might even be Goeppertia (f/k/a Calathea)?

i have observed M. depressa in Bronx bot garden conservatory for years. it chnges the variegation somewhat in lesser light: thedark areas on younger leaves are less distict.
but overall the variegation looks just like M. leuconeura var kerchoveana.
however on the pic by @ruuddeblock top right it is slightly different: the light middle area has diff shape and darker areas are different too.
@plantomaniac08 pic looks like M. depressa to me (and many others too: @bonitin, @deebie,
@ljones26, @piksihk, last 2 by @Paul2032).
is it possible to consult smth other then Catalogue of Life?

If you look carefully M.leuconeura has distinct red veining.
there are several pics in DB with white veining that is characteristic of a different cultivar M. leuconeura 'Marisel' (by @Shannon and also @robertduval14).
although on robertduval's pic there is a label M. leuconeura var leuconeura and the veining is slightly different from M. 'Marisel'. it could be just a variation.
may be at least those should be moved for now?
and @Bubbles has what looks like 3 different plants in 1 pot :).

Sometimes it's impossible to know the exact cultivar name if the plant wasn't labeled. I have many plant photos in our database at both the species entry and the cultivar entry. If I know the species but the plant wasn't labeled with a cultivar name, I've uploaded it to the species entry.

Regarding all of the photos you are referring to as possibly not being Maranta species leuconeura, one of the database administrators may be able to help. @zuzu @Calif_Sue @Kentpfeiffer @Robertduval @Australis

yes, i know that when people do not know the cultivar name for sure, they upload into a generic entry. However some variegation is unmistakable and there aren't that many cultivars of Maranta. And they do look exactly like 'Marisel', if you look at that entry.
In any case, there are so many examples of this happening.
When i put in a lot of pics of particular plants that i have interest in and i see a lot of confusion, i do make an effort to alert DB admins :).
if they think it's ok to leave it as is - it's their call, of course.
i found this ref to both: without pics of course. sep entries, not synonyms.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/T...

but..it's not possible that they look identical in any case.
So, i would like to know at least how M. depressa looks for sure: i put sev pictures of it in DB from Bronx bot garden conservatory, where it is marked with a label. but botanical gardens make mistakes too, as i found out many times.

i don't know if this site has reliable info. it does not mention M. leuconeura var kerchoveana.
But it has a pic for M.depressa
http://www.searchlifeforms.com...

I have been following this discussion and can see the issue. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the plant in question, so will need some assistance in identifying which photos need to go where.

First step will be finding some reliable resources that describe the plant.

The plant pictured by plantlady in the fourth entry (the one above left) looks like the cultivar Maranta leuconeura 'Fascinator Tricolor' or just 'Fascinator', at least it is often sold here under that name. It is probably based on Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura, a name no longer accepted (set back to the main species)

Ruud

To add to the confusion some pictures from around Europe with these species, vars, cultivars etc.:

Maranta depressa
I've found this only once in the Botanical garden of the TU Delft):



At the time they had quit a collection of Calathea, but as you can see they lacked manpower for optimal care. However look at the differences in old/young leaves.

Maranta leuconeura
Plants just labelled M. leuconora I found in the BG's of Stockholm and Copenhagen, the latter looks like 'Fascinator' without orange veins.



Maranta leuconeura var. kerchoviana
Found this twice, the first two pictures are from Kew Gardens, the third from Copenhagen



Then I found Maranta leuconeura var. massangeana, now no longer accepted but brought back to the main species. Photo's from Kew gardens:



Finally I found M. leuconeura 'Emerald Beauty' in Kew:



Ruud

Ruud, I uploaded my photo below to the species entry because it didn't have a cultivar name attached at time of purchase:



I uploaded the photo below to the cultivar entry for 'Fascinator' because it was listed as such at the botanical garden where I took the photo:

Nice look-a-likes. I guess much confusion arises form the original Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura, not looking like the species (in my laymen's eyes) but still being put back into the species. So the name is now given to two quite different looking plants.

Ruud

I just looked up Maranta leuconeura at the Catalogue of Life and it shows the following:

Maranta leuconeura - Species - accepted name

Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura - Infraspecific taxon - synonym for Maranta leuconeura

Maranta leuconeura var. kerchoveana - Infraspecific taxon - synonym for Maranta leuconeura

Maranta leuconeura var. massangeana - Infraspecific taxon - synonym for Maranta leuconeura

@RuuddeBlock
the 3rd from last pic that you said was M. ..massangeana looks very similar to Calathea wiotii.

I found the description of some cultivars and misnomers at UofFL: they are usually very knowledgeable about tropical plants.
this what they say:
Maranta leuconeura `Kerchoviana' (listed as `Massangeana' in many of the earlier publications), the prayer plant, rabbit's foot, rabbit's-track or green maranta, is a herbaceous, sprawling plant which grows to form a clump as it matures.
and that is the description of those 'double black spots' along the central vein:
looks to me just like M. depressa..
https://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/foli...
it is interesting that they are using cultivar names 'Kerchoveana' 'Massangeana',etc
it would be helpful to do that if that is acceptable, because then you can have different entries with specific pictures and you'll know which one is which.
the variegations are all distinct, so it is not actually possible to mis-identify them once you know for sure each pattern.
and this is for sale as M. massangeana :)
http://www.glasshouseworks.com...
and the one from Kew 'emerald ..' is listed as M. cristata or bicolor for sale
https://toptropicals.com/catal...

I have taken many pics of M. depressa at Bronx bot garden and I noticed that in brighter light it has much more distinct variegation.
on your pics from TU Delft - that's what you get when there is not enough light.
in bright light with some partial sun it starts looking like your M. leuconeura var. kerchoveana.
I knew that this is 'a barrel of worms' so to speak. But I really wanted to find out why there is so much confusion and let it to rest..if possible :).
here is a pic where you can see variegation on younger leaves with characteristic double row of spots, and older leaves where the spots diffuse into a darker area, looking quite different.

I've finally had a chance to start working on this and decided that given these varieties are now being sold with cultivar names (and the fact that we often have "Variegata" in the database as a cultivar name too), I would try to split out the main forms.

I used https://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/foli... as my starting point. From what I can find, other botanical gardens and the RHS agree on the description for 'Erythroneura', so that one was a bit more straightforward to separate out.



I have to yet to work out the exact description for 'Kerchoviana' or 'Leuconeura', though, and expect these (especially the latter) will have more confusion.

Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura 'Kerchoviana')

Considering var. leuconeura is the type for the species, I am leaving it in Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura), as it shouldn't need a cultivar entry.

Joshua, thanks for your hard work on this!

But what about the similarity of pics for M. depressa and M. leuconeura 'Kerchoviana'?
Is it the same plant or not? why do they look identical? while all other Marantas have quite specific variegation?