Overview
The accepted name for this species is Goeppertia altissima (Poepp. & Endl.) Borchs. & S.Suárez. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy records it under this name at species key 7940866 [3], and Plants of the World Online (POWO), maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, lists it as an accepted species within Goeppertia Nees — the largest genus in the family Marantaceae, comprising an estimated 260 accepted species [2].
Goeppertia altissima belongs to the family Marantaceae, the prayer-plant family. The genus Goeppertia Nees holds the great majority of species transferred from Calathea G.Mey. following Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince's 2012 molecular phylogenetic demonstration that Calathea as previously circumscribed was polyphyletic [1]. The specific epithet altissima is Latin for 'tallest' or 'very tall', a form consistent with the description accompanying the original 1838 protologue [4].
No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae [3]. Goeppertia altissima is a wild taxon and is not a registered cultivar; no plant patent or plant breeders' right bearing on this species name has been identified.
Nomenclature and Synonymy
The basionym for this species was published by Eduard Friedrich Poeppig and Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher in their 1838 work Nova genera ac species plantarum, quas in regno Chilensi Peruviano, volume 2, issued by Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig [4]. The authority string Poepp. & Endl. in the current combination refers to the authors of that original description.
The combination transferring the species to Goeppertia — creating the accepted name Goeppertia altissima (Poepp. & Endl.) Borchs. & S.Suárez — was published by Finn Borchsenius, Sebastián Suárez and Lena Prince in September 2012 in Systematic Botany 37(3): 620–635 (DOI: 10.1600/036364412X648571) [1]. That paper published 246 new combinations moving species from Calathea G.Mey. to Goeppertia Nees on the basis that molecular phylogenetic analysis demonstrated Calathea as previously circumscribed to be polyphyletic [1].
The name Calathea altissima is the immediately prior combination for this species and remains in continued horticultural use; it is treated as a synonym under the accepted Goeppertia placement [1]. The registry additionally records Calathea comosa as a synonym of Goeppertia altissima, citing Borchsenius, Suárez & Prince (2012) as the source of that synonymy [1]. A registry conflict note is recorded here: the synonym row for Calathea comosa carries verified_against_primary = false, meaning it has not been independently confirmed against the primary Borchsenius et al. combination list or a directly retrieved POWO species-level page for Goeppertia altissima. The registry value is stated here in accordance with editorial policy; a human reviewer should verify the synonymy against the primary record before this entry is finalised.
The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy records the species at key 7940866 with the authority (Poepp. & Endl.) Borchs. & S.Suárez [3], consistent with the POWO listing [2] and the 2012 Borchsenius et al. publication [1].
Description
The diagnostic characters of Goeppertia altissima as stated in an authoritative taxonomic source have not been retrieved for this entry. The full text of Nova genera ac species plantarum vol. 2 (1838) constitutes the primary descriptive record and is accessible through the Biodiversity Heritage Library [4]. The specific epithet altissima, meaning 'tallest' or 'very tall' in Latin, is consistent with the content of that protologue [4], but a detailed reproduction of diagnostic morphological characters from a current taxonomic authority has not been retrieved.
Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.
Distribution
The native range of Goeppertia altissima is not populated in the registry fact pack, and the POWO species-level page for this taxon was not directly retrieved during preparation of this entry. The original 1838 protologue by Poeppig and Endlicher situates the material in the context of collections made in Chile and Peru [4], consistent with the broader Neotropical distribution pattern of the genus Goeppertia as documented by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) [1]. The specific native range of Goeppertia altissima as stated by a current taxonomic authority has not been independently confirmed for this entry, and no habitat description from an authoritative source has been retrieved.
Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.
In Cultivation
The registry records in_cultivation as true for Goeppertia altissima. The trade continues to list this plant under the synonym Calathea altissima, consistent with the broader pattern across the genus whereby horticultural usage of Calathea names persists following the 2012 Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince reclassification [1]. However, no authoritative source — botanical garden publication, university extension document, or peer-reviewed literature — documenting a cultivated accession, a botanic garden holding, or the cultivation history of this species has been retrieved for this entry.
Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.
No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae [3]. Accordingly, no body currently holds a mandate to maintain an official cultivar checklist for Goeppertia species, and no cultivars are attributed to Goeppertia altissima in the registry. The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) requires a cultivar epithet to be enclosed in single quotation marks and establishes that a trade designation is distinct from a registered cultivar epithet; these distinctions are observed throughout this registry.