Houseplant · Marantaceae
Peacock Plant
Goeppertia makoyana
Give it warmth, humidity, and soft water, and the peacock plant unfurls some of the boldest leaves you'll grow indoors.
Bright indirect
65–75°F · 18–24°C
USDA 11–12
12–24 in · 30–60 cm
Overview
The peacock plant lives up to its name with every single leaf. Bold green brushstrokes spread out from the midrib over a lighter background, with a deep purple-red underneath, so the whole thing reads like the eye of a peacock feather. It's part of the prayer plant family, the Marantaceae, and it hails from the rainforest floor of eastern Brazil.
Like the rest of that family, it actually moves. The leaves fold up come evening and open back out at dawn, a trick called nyctinasty that gives the plant a quiet rhythm over the course of a day. And that tropical background sets the rules for growing it: warm air, steady moisture, and the sort of humidity you'd get under a forest canopy.
So no, this isn't a beginner's plant. It's fussy about water and dry air, and it'll tell you about it with brown leaf edges the second either one drifts off. But get the conditions dialed in and hardly any houseplant can touch the patterning on those leaves.
Care
The short version: bright indirect light, never direct sun, with soft water that keeps the soil moist but never soggy, warmth in the 65°F to 75°F (18°C to 24°C) range, and humidity at 60% or higher.
Light
Set it up with bright, indirect light, the kind you'd get a few feet back from a window rather than right on the sill. It'll handle part shade or even full shade too, but direct sun scorches the leaves and bleaches out the pattern that makes it worth having in the first place.
Water
Keep the soil moist but never waterlogged through spring and summer, then back off from fall into late winter. Reach for distilled or rain water, because the fluoride in tap water browns the leaf edges. And remember, too much water is the quickest path to rotting the roots.
Soil
Pot it up in a well-drained, humusy mix loaded with organic matter, with some perlite mixed in to keep things airy. Shoot for a pH on the acidic side of 8.0, and make sure that pot drains well so the roots aren't sitting in water.
Temperature
Keep the room somewhere between 65°F and 75°F (18°C to 24°C). It's a tropical plant, so it has no patience for cold drafts. Park it away from chilly windows and air vents.
Humidity
Humidity is the bit most folks trip up on. The plant wants 60% or higher, and dry indoor air announces itself pretty quickly as crisp brown edges, so a humidifier or a pebble tray usually pays off.
Feeding
Feed it a balanced fertilizer monthly all through the growing season, spring into summer. Then knock it off completely in winter, when growth slows down and the plant doesn't need the extra nutrients.
Pruning
There isn't much pruning to do here. Just trim off any damaged or browned leaves as they show up, and every so often wipe those big leaves with a damp cloth so dust doesn't dull them or cut down the light.
Repotting
Aim to divide and repot roughly every two years, in late spring. That freshens up the mix and splits the rhizome at the same time, which happens to be how you make new plants too.
Size & spacing
It keeps things compact, hitting around 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) tall with a spread of 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm). That small footprint makes it easy to tuck onto a shelf, a desk, or in among other plants that love humidity.
Troubleshooting
Just about every peacock plant problem turns up on the leaves, and most of them come back to water or air. Take a close look at the edges and the patterning, and you can usually pin down the cause before it spreads. Find what matches below, then sort out the condition behind it.
Wilting with mushy stem bases, but the soil's still wet
If the plant is drooping while the soil stays soggy, it's not thirsty. It's root rot from too much water. Pull the plant out, trim away any roots that have gone brown and soft, and move it into fresh, well-drained mix. After that, water just enough to keep the soil moist, and never let it get waterlogged.
Fix:
- Remove from wet soil and trim rotted roots
- Repot into fresh well-drained mix
- Water only to keep soil moist, never waterlogged
Fine webbing and speckled yellow dots on the leaves
Dry indoor air is a welcome mat for spider mites, and they spin thin webs under the leaves while leaving the tops dotted with pale flecks. Give the foliage a good rinse and wipe it down, then hit it with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Crank the humidity up too, since that makes the plant a lot less appealing to them.
Fix:
- Rinse foliage and wipe leaves
- Treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil
- Increase humidity to discourage mites
So the leaf edges are turning brown and crispy?
That's tip burn, and it happens when the fluoride, chlorine, and salts in tap water pile up in the leaf tissue. Dry air only speeds it along. Swap over to distilled or rain water and bump the humidity up to 60% or higher. You can snip the worst edges to neaten things up, but the brown bits won't turn green again.
Fix:
- Switch to distilled water or rain water
- Raise ambient humidity to 60% or above
- Trim off badly browned margins for appearance
Faded markings and bleached patches showing up
Here's what's going on: direct sun is scorching the foliage and fading those peacock-feather markings down to a flat, washed-out green. Shift the plant back into bright indirect light or part shade, and take off any leaves that got badly burned. The pattern comes back on whatever grows next.
Fix:
- Move the plant to bright indirect light or part shade
- Remove severely scorched leaves
Toxicity
Good news if you've got pets or kids: the peacock plant is safe. The ASPCA lists Calathea as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and there's nothing harmful in the leaves for other animals or for people either. So you can put it wherever you like and not stress about a curious nibble.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
The ASPCA has this one down as non-toxic to cats, so a curious nibble isn't going to poison them. A cat that really overdoes it on any houseplant might throw up from all the roughage, but there's nothing harmful in the leaves themselves.
Dogs None
Dogs are totally fine here. The ASPCA rates the peacock plant safe for them, and the foliage has no toxic compounds to fret over if one decides to take a bite.
Horses None
Horses can browse right next to it with no risk, since both the ASPCA and NC State Extension list the plant as non-toxic to them.
Rabbits None
There's nothing in the leaves that'll hurt a rabbit. It isn't part of their usual menu, so a stray nibble is no problem as long as hay and greens stay their main food.
Livestock None
Goats, sheep, and cattle won't be poisoned by this Marantaceae plant. And since it's a tropical houseplant, it hardly ever ends up in front of them anyway.
Birds None
The peacock plant carries no toxins that would bother a pet bird, so a tug at the leaves does no harm.
People None
It's safe to keep around kids. You grow it for the leaves, not to eat, but even a mouthful won't poison anyone.
How to propagate
There's really just one way to make more peacock plants, and it doubles as regular upkeep. You divide the rhizome when you repot instead of trying to root a cutting.
DivisionModerate
Late spring · Several weeks to a few months to establish new growth
The one way to get more of these is by dividing the rhizome, and that lines up nicely with the repotting it wants about every two years anyway. Do it in late spring, gently teasing the root ball apart into clumps that each hold a few healthy shoots, then pot them up and keep them warm and humid. New growth can take a few weeks to a few months to settle in. And no, stem and leaf cuttings just won't root.
Myths
People grow the peacock plant for its flashy flowers.
The tiny purple-to-white blooms are easy to overlook and barely ever appear on a plant living indoors. The real show is the foliage, where the markings fan out across each leaf like the eye on a peacock feather. That's what people are after, not any flower.
The peacock plant will poison your pets.
Nope. The ASPCA lists Calathea as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and NC State Extension says exactly the same for Goeppertia makoyana. You can keep this one in a house full of pets and not give it a second thought.
Calathea makoyana is the right botanical name.
You'll still spot that name on plant tags all over the place, but it's a synonym now. Kew lists the accepted name as Goeppertia makoyana, after the 2012 reclassification that shifted a lot of Calathea over into the genus Goeppertia.