Overview
Maranta leuconeura 'Beauty Kim' is a cultivar of Maranta leuconeura É.Morren, a species belonging to the genus Maranta L., the type genus of the family Marantaceae. The accepted name Maranta leuconeura É.Morren traces its original publication to Annales d'Horticulture Belge et Étrangère 24: 323 (1874), as confirmed by the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and the International Plant Names Index via Plants of the World Online [3][5].
Unlike many genera in Marantaceae, Maranta was not among those restructured by the 2012 molecular phylogenetic revision published by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince in Systematic Botany 37(3): 620–635, which established new circumscriptions for Calathea and transferred numerous species to Goeppertia [2]. Accordingly, the binomial Maranta leuconeura has remained nomenclaturally stable, and no transfer combination applies to this cultivar.
The cultivar is classified in the registry as a sport — a naturally occurring whole-plant mutation — and the primary record establishing it is U.S. Plant Patent PP11962, granted 26 June 2001 [1]. The denomination class for cultivars of Maranta in the Digital Towns plant registry is 'maranta'.
Names
Registered cultivar epithet: The accepted cultivar epithet is 'Beauty Kim', rendered in single quotes per the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). The epithet is not italicised. This name class — the cultivar epithet — is a distinct legal and nomenclatural category from both a trade designation and a patent denomination, even when the character string is identical [1].
Patent denomination: The patent denomination, as published in U.S. Plant Patent PP11962, is identically Beauty Kim [1]. A patent denomination and a cultivar epithet are distinct name classes under the ICNCP; the fact that they share the same string in this instance does not merge the classes. The denomination is traceable to a single primary document: PP11962, filed 31 December 1999 and granted 26 June 2001 [1].
Trade designation: No trade designation separate from the cultivar epithet 'Beauty Kim' has been identified in any authoritative source reviewed for this page. U.S. Plant Patent PP11962 does not establish or mention any trade designation distinct from the denomination Beauty Kim [1]. Any name applied to this plant in commerce that differs from 'Beauty Kim' has no documented authoritative basis in the primary record.
No International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) has been appointed for the genus Maranta or for Marantaceae. The International Society for Horticultural Science, which coordinates ICRA appointments, lists no authority for this family in its published register of ICRA appointees [7]. As a consequence, there is no standing formal register against which the epithet 'Beauty Kim' can be checked for priority, uniqueness, or ICNCP compliance. The patent record is therefore the sole authoritative public document establishing this denomination.
Origin
U.S. Plant Patent PP11962 names Brian Gold, of Centerville, Utah, as the inventor of 'Beauty Kim' [1]. The patent records that Gold discovered the new cultivar in a controlled environment at San Jose Penula, Guatemala, in spring 1997, as a naturally occurring whole-plant mutation of Maranta leuconeura var. Kerchoviana, not patented [1]. The new plant was observed as a single individual within a group of plants of var. Kerchoviana [1].
A registry conflict exists on the question of parentage specificity: the Digital Towns registry derivation field records the parentage as a mutation of Maranta leuconeura without specifying the variety, whereas U.S. Plant Patent PP11962 states the parentage more precisely as Maranta leuconeura var. Kerchoviana [1]. The patent, as the primary record, is the more precise statement; the registry field is noted here pending human review and correction.
The patent further records that asexual propagation of the new cultivar by vegetative cuttings and by tissue culture was carried out in Apopka, Florida, and that the unique features of the cultivar were shown to be stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations [1]. The patent was assigned to Oro Farms, Inc., Centerville, Utah [1]. No originator or namer separate from Brian Gold is documented in any primary source reviewed for this page.
Intellectual Property
U.S. Plant Patent PP11962 was the operative instrument of intellectual property protection for this cultivar. The application was filed 31 December 1999, and the patent was granted 26 June 2001 [1]. Plant patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office confer a 20-year term of exclusivity measured from the filing date under 35 U.S.C. §§ 163–164. With the application filed 31 December 1999, the patent term expired on 31 December 2019. The patent's status is recorded as Expired — Lifetime, indicating that no rights of exclusivity subsist over this cultivar as of the date of this page [1].
The patent was assigned to Oro Farms, Inc., Centerville, Utah [1]. The patent record identifies Brian Gold as the sole inventor. The protection conferred by the patent covered the asexually reproduced cultivar as described in the specification — its particular growth habit, leaf coloration, and other morphological characters recorded at the time of filing — and did not extend to the parent variety Maranta leuconeura var. Kerchoviana, which the patent explicitly notes as not patented [1].
No additional or subsequent plant patent, plant breeder's right, or other intellectual property instrument covering this cultivar has been identified in the sources reviewed for this page.
Distinguishing Traits
The morphological description in U.S. Plant Patent PP11962 was recorded under controlled production conditions at the time of filing and constitutes the authoritative documented character set for this cultivar [1]. The patent describes the following plant characters:
Plant shape is described as rounded, mounded, and low-growing, with an outwardly spreading to weeping habit. Growth habit is documented as bushy, dense, and full. Plant height is recorded as approximately 10 cm from soil level to the top of the leaf plane, and plant diameter as approximately 15 cm. Branching habit is described as moderately basal-branching, typically not requiring pinching. The patent records a crop time from a rooted cutting or tissue-cultured liner of approximately 12 weeks to produce a finished 10-cm container [1].
Leaf coloration is documented using Royal Horticultural Society colour chart references. On the upper leaf surface, the background colour is recorded as 139C; spots as 175D and 183A; veins as 150D and 139C; and random venal splotches as 150D. The lower leaf surface colour is recorded as 138B. Petiole colour is documented as 200A [1].
The patent records that flowers had not been observed on plants of this cultivar at the time of the application, and that no resistance to pathogens common to Maranta was observed under commercial production conditions [1]. The patent also notes that the cultivar is tropical and does not tolerate freezing temperatures [1].
Documentation
The primary and sole authoritative document for Maranta leuconeura 'Beauty Kim' is U.S. Plant Patent PP11962, filed 31 December 1999 and granted 26 June 2001, accessible via the USPTO record [1]. This document establishes the cultivar denomination, the inventor's identity, the assignee, the parentage, the place and date of discovery, the propagation method, and the morphological characters that define the plant. The parent species binomial is confirmed as nomenclaturally stable by the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (retrieved 2026-08-12) [3] and by the International Plant Names Index record via Plants of the World Online [4][5]. The stability of the Maranta genus name through the 2012 recircumscription of Marantaceae is established by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) in Systematic Botany 37(3): 620–635 [2].
No ICRA has been appointed for Marantaceae, as documented by the ISHS register of ICRA appointees [7]. No peer-reviewed horticultural literature, botanic garden publication, or university extension document specifically addressing the cultivation of Maranta leuconeura 'Beauty Kim' was identified in the sources reviewed for this page. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.