Goeppertia eichleri

Goeppertia eichleri (Petersen) Borchs. & S.Suárez is the accepted name for a perennial herb in the family Marantaceae, as recorded by Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew [1]. The species is one of approximately 260 accepted species in Goeppertia Nees, the largest genus in Marantaceae [2]. Plants of the World Online places Goeppertia eichleri within the wet tropical biome, consistent with the Marantaceae preference for humid, shaded forest understory habitats in the Neotropics [1].

The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy records the accepted name as Goeppertia eichleri (Petersen) Borchs. & S.Suárez under GBIF key 7667886, providing an independent confirmation of the accepted circumscription [3]. The trade continues to list this plant under the older combination Calathea eichleri, a name that, according to the 2012 molecular-phylogenetic revision by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince, belongs to a genus circumscription no longer supported by molecular data [2].

The basionym of this species is Calathea eichleri Petersen, described by O.G. Petersen and published in 1890 in the Marantaceae treatment of Flora Brasiliensis 3(3): 108, the monumental floristic series edited by C.F.P. von Martius, A.G. Eichler and I. Urban [1]. The epithet eichleri commemorates A.G. Eichler, one of the editors of the Flora Brasiliensis series in which Petersen's Marantaceae treatment appeared [1].

The combination transferring the species to Goeppertia was made by Finn Borchsenius, Luz Stella Suárez and Linda M. Prince, and published as part of a broader molecular-phylogenetic revision that transferred 246 species from Calathea G.Mey. to Goeppertia Nees after demonstrating that Calathea as previously circumscribed was polyphyletic [2]. The combination appears at page 630 of Systematic Botany 37(3): 620-635 [2]. The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) records the publication date of the combination as 25 June 2012 [7]. The registry previously recorded the publication month as September 2012; the IPNI record differs, giving 25 June 2012 as the publication date, and a human reviewer should resolve this discrepancy against the primary journal record.

Plants of the World Online records two synonyms for Goeppertia eichleri: Calathea eichleri Petersen (the basionym) and Phyllodes eichleri (Petersen) Kuntze [1]. No additional infraspecific taxa are recorded under the accepted name in POWO as of 14 August 2026. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy likewise recognises Goeppertia eichleri (Petersen) Borchs. & S.Suárez as the accepted name under GBIF key 7667886 [3].

An account of the Marantaceae of São Paulo state published by the Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo (2016) provides morphological diagnostic characters for the taxon, treating it under its synonym Calathea eichleri [4]. According to that account, Calathea eichleri and C. longibracteata are distinguished from other species of the complex by the presence of dimorphic bracts on the inflorescence [4]. Within that pair, the two species differ in bract shape: C. eichleri bears oval to broadly oval lower bracts with a rounded to acute apex and upper bracts with an acuminate to triangular-lanceolate apex, whereas C. longibracteata bears obovate lower bracts with an acuminate apex and obovate-lanceolate upper bracts with a squarrose apex [4].

A closely related species, C. arrabidae, was also described by Petersen (1890) in the same Flora Brasiliensis treatment [4]. The São Paulo account notes these three species as part of a recognisable morphological assemblage within the broader Marantaceae of southeastern Brazil [4].

The Argentina Marantaceae synopsis records a lectotype designation for Calathea eichleri, a typification step that falls within standard post-publication nomenclatural practice for names described in large nineteenth-century floristic works such as Flora Brasiliensis [4]. No further anatomical or cytological data for this species were located in the sources consulted.

Plants of the World Online records the native range of Goeppertia eichleri as western-central and southeastern Brazil, extending to Argentina (Misiones province) and Paraguay [1]. The floristic regions documented by POWO are Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Argentina Northeast, and Paraguay [1]. The registry field for native range is currently unpopulated; the POWO primary record provides this information and a human reviewer should populate the field accordingly [1].

The Marantaceae treatment published by the Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo (2016) documents the presence of the species (under the synonym Calathea eichleri) in São Paulo state, confirming its occurrence in the southeastern Brazilian component of the range [4]. The Argentina Marantaceae synopsis records Goeppertia eichleri as one of only seven Marantaceae species documented for Argentina, the assemblage also including Maranta sobolifera, Saranthe eichleri, Stromanthe boliviana, Thalia geniculata and T. multiflora [4].

No IUCN conservation assessment for Goeppertia eichleri was located in the sources consulted. The species is a wild taxon; no plant patent applies and patent status is not relevant to it.

The registry records Goeppertia eichleri as in cultivation (registry field in_cultivation: true). The Marantaceae treatment published by the Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo (2016) includes Calathea eichleri in its botanical account and describes its morphological characters in comparison with related wild and cultivated species, indicating the plant has been a subject of scientific botanical observation in institutional contexts [4].

The species also appears in the flora of Argentina, treated in the Marantaceae synopsis alongside species of horticultural interest in the subtropical zone of Misiones province [4]. No botanic garden cultivation records, university extension accounts or herbarium specimen data accessible from the sources consulted provide further documented cultivation detail beyond the institutional botanical literature noted above. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.

No International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) has been appointed for Marantaceae. The International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Commission Cultivar Registration is responsible for appointing ICRAs and monitors their work through annual reports and four-year reassessments [5]. As of 14 August 2026, no such appointment exists for Marantaceae.

The International Aroid Society holds ICRA status for cultivars of Araceae, as documented by the Aroid Cultivar Registry [6]. No equivalent body exists for Marantaceae or for the genus Goeppertia. The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) requires that a cultivar epithet be enclosed in single quotation marks; in the absence of an appointed ICRA for Marantaceae, no central register for cultivar names in this genus is currently maintained by any ISHS-appointed body [5].

Goeppertia eichleri is a wild species. No registered cultivar epithets are recorded for it in the sources consulted, and the registry carries no cultivar records under this species.