Maranta 'Fascinator'

The cultivar epithet 'Fascinator' is applied in current horticultural use to a selected form of Maranta leuconeura É.Morren, a species first published in Annales de l'Horticulture Belge et Étrangère 24: 323 (1874) [1]. The Royal Horticultural Society Plant Finder lists the full botanical string as Maranta leuconeura var. leuconeura 'Fascinator', placing the cultivar within the nominate variety of the species [2]. The registry currently records the species assignment for this cultivar as not yet assigned; both Plants of the World Online (POWO) and the RHS Plant Finder resolve it to Maranta leuconeura É.Morren — a discrepancy noted here for reviewer attention [1][2].

Maranta leuconeura belongs to the family Marantaceae and the type genus Maranta L., first published by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum 1: 2 (1753) [1]. Plants of the World Online records the genus as comprising 54 accepted species distributed from Mexico to tropical America, and confirms that Maranta was not affected by the 2012 recircumscription that transferred the bulk of Calathea species to Goeppertia Nees [1]. The RHS Plant Finder describes 'Fascinator' as an evergreen rhizomatous perennial to approximately 30 cm in height and spread, with elliptic to ovate dark green leaves to approximately 12 cm long bearing bright red veins that fan from the midribs toward the margins and yellow-green markings along the midrib [2].

Registered epithet. The cultivar epithet is 'Fascinator'. As required by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), it is enclosed in single quotation marks and is not italicised. The RHS Plant Finder carries the full botanical string Maranta leuconeura var. leuconeura 'Fascinator' [2]. No ICNCP-conforming registration record for this epithet has been located in any publicly accessible register; no registration authority exists for the family Marantaceae (see Registration Context below).

Trade designation. The same plant circulates in trade under additional strings including 'Tricolor', 'Fascinator Tricolor', and 'Erythroneura'. The relationship of these strings to the RHS-listed epithet 'Fascinator' is not resolved by any authoritative register [2]. None is established as a formally registered trade designation by any primary record identified during this research pass.

Patent denomination. No plant patent number is recorded in the registry for this cultivar, and no USPTO or equivalent national plant patent record has been located. There is accordingly no patent denomination, no statutory assignee, and no patent term in force.

A nomenclaturally distinct but related name appears in the botanical record: Maranta fascinator L.Linden & Rodigas, published in L'Illustration Horticole 41: 105–106 (1894) [3]. Plants of the World Online records this as a botanical synonym of Maranta leuconeura É.Morren — a species-rank name governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, not a cultivar epithet under the ICNCP [1]. The botanical synonym Maranta fascinator is italicised and carries no quotation marks, and the 1894 species-rank publication does not constitute a formal registration of the cultivar epithet 'Fascinator' under the ICNCP [1][3].

No originator is documented — this cultivar predates any registration authority for Marantaceae.

The botanical name Maranta fascinator L.Linden & Rodigas, published in L'Illustration Horticole 41: 105–106 (1894), names Lucien Linden and Émile Rodigas as authors of the species-rank description [3]. Plants of the World Online confirms this as the first appearance of that name in print [1]. However, Linden and Rodigas are authors of a botanical species description under the ICN, not originators of a named cultivar under the ICNCP, and that publication pre-dates the ICNCP by several decades. The peer-reviewed study by Cusimano and Renner (2017) in Phytotaxa 329(3): 201–212 cites the Linden & Rodigas 1894 publication in its reference list as a historical Marantaceae name but does not attribute cultivar authorship to any individual or institution [3].

No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae. The International Society for Horticultural Science Commission for Cultivar Registration appoints and monitors ICRAs under the provisions of the ICNCP; its published guidance confirms that the scheme does not yet cover all horticulturally significant genera, and Marantaceae does not appear among the current ICRA appointments [4].

The International Aroid Society is the ICRA for Araceae (excluding Calla L. and Zantedeschia Spreng.) [5]. Marantaceae is a separate family from Araceae and lies outside that denomination class; its registration record is cited here only to illustrate what a functioning ICRA looks like for a related ornamental family. Digital Towns is an applicant and an aggregator; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operating under the ISHS or any appointed ICRA.

The RHS Plant Finder lists 'Fascinator' as a named cultivar [2], but the RHS Plant Finder is a horticultural catalogue, not a cultivar registration authority for this family. In the absence of an appointed ICRA for Marantaceae, no formal register of cultivar epithets for Maranta or allied genera is maintained under ICNCP auspices.

The primary taxonomic anchor for this cultivar is Plants of the World Online, which records Maranta leuconeura É.Morren as the accepted species name and places Maranta fascinator L.Linden & Rodigas (1894) as a botanical synonym [1]. The RHS Plant Finder provides the only authoritative cultivar-level description, establishing the full string Maranta leuconeura var. leuconeura 'Fascinator' and supplying morphological data [2]. The study by Cusimano and Renner (2017) in Phytotaxa independently confirms the 1894 Linden & Rodigas publication as a Marantaceae nomenclatural record [3].

No plant patent, no ICNCP registration, no originator statement, and no primary horticultural document beyond the RHS Plant Finder entry have been located for the cultivar epithet 'Fascinator'. Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.