Goeppertia acuminata

Goeppertia acuminata (Steyerm.) Borchs. & S.Suárez is an accepted species of the family Marantaceae, recorded under that binomial and authority in the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (key 7466219), accessed 11 August 2026 [1]. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew independently confirm the same binomial as accepted in the Plants of the World Online (POWO) database, under the genus Goeppertia Nees [2].

Goeppertia Nees is the largest genus in Marantaceae. Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) estimated approximately 260 species in the genus following a mass transfer from Calathea, and diagnosed Goeppertia as monophyletic on molecular grounds [3]. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew document the genus as known collectively in horticulture under the common name calatheas [2]. The registry records the species as present in cultivation, though no cultivar records are attached to it. No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae, and Digital Towns operates as an aggregator only; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operating under the International Society for Horticultural Science or any appointed registration authority.

The basionym of this species is Calathea acuminata Steyerm., an original combination authored by Julian Alfred Steyermark (1909–1988), a Venezuelan-American botanist who held positions at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Instituto Botánico of Caracas, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Under the 2012 revision by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince, Calathea acuminata Steyerm. is treated as a synonym of the accepted name [3]. The registry documents no other synonyms for this species.

The new combination Goeppertia acuminata (Steyerm.) Borchs. & S.Suárez was formally published in Systematic Botany 37(3): 628, with a publication date of September 2012 [3]. It is one of 246 new combinations produced by that revision, all transferring Calathea species into Goeppertia after Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince demonstrated that Calathea as circumscribed by Schumann (1902) did not form a natural group — that is, that it was polyphyletic [3]. Both GBIF [1] and POWO [2] record the post-2012 binomial as the accepted name, and both sources confirm the full authority string (Steyerm.) Borchs. & S.Suárez.

The registry does not hold the year, publication venue, or type information for the Steyermark protologue of Calathea acuminata, and no primary source supplying those bibliographic details was located through the targeted searches conducted for this page. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed to establish the full bibliographic details of the Steyermark protologue, including its publication venue, year, type specimen designation, and type locality.

The species epithet acuminata derives from the Latin acuminatus, meaning tapering to a sharp point, and refers to a leaf-apex character. Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) note that members of the genus Goeppertia share morphological synapomorphies including simple inflorescences and corolla lobes that are straight to spreading, characters that had long distinguished these plants from the remaining Calathea s.s. clade [3]. No sourced morphological description drawn from the Steyermark protologue or a subsequent monographic revision of this species has been located through the targeted searches conducted for this page. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed to supply a full morphological diagnosis from the protologue.

The native range and habitat fields for Goeppertia acuminata are unpopulated in this registry. No range map, IUCN Red List assessment, or herbarium-based distributional study for this species has been located through the primary-record searches conducted for this page. As a member of the genus Goeppertia, the species belongs to a group that Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) describe as native to the New World tropics, where Goeppertia constitutes an important component of Neotropical herbaceous diversity [3]. No species-level distributional statement for Goeppertia acuminata specifically has been drawn from a source meeting the citation criteria for this registry. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed to document the native range, altitudinal limits, and habitat associations of this species from a taxonomic monograph or georeferenced specimen database.

The registry records the in_cultivation field as true for Goeppertia acuminata. No cultivar records are attached to this species. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew document the genus Goeppertia as widely represented in cultivation under the collective common name calatheas [2], but no authoritative source located for this page provides species-level cultivation data specifically for Goeppertia acuminata. No cultivar registrations, plant patents, botanical garden accession publications, or university extension documents specifically addressing this species in cultivation have been located through the primary-record searches conducted for this page. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed to document any ex-situ cultivation history, botanic garden holdings, or documented horticultural use of this species.