Question
hello, I am trying to revive a plant that I adopted from my co worker. the plant looks kind of like a rabbits foot, but has red veining, and the "paw print" is red on the back side, but darker green on the front of the leaf. The stalk looks like it grows in sections, almost looking like it is jointed. I would love to know what it is, and maybe how I can care for it.
Thank you

Answer
Hello Keith,  You describe, very well I might add, one of my favourite houseplants from the group of Marantas.  Yours is a M. leuconeura kerchoveana commonly known as a Prayer Plant and/or Rabbit Tracks.  The markings on the leaves are, as you say, like a rabbits paw print hence one of its common names but do you know why it is also called the Prayer Plant? At night time these plants fold and raise their leaves as if in prayer! So one night why don't you turn off the lights, get ready for bed and then creep back to "spy"  on your plant to see it "praying"!

This variety of maranta has quite delicate leaves but there are another two varieties which have tougher leaves, M. leuconeura erythrophylla also known as M. tricolor as the leaves are green, red and white and M. leuconeura massangeana which has darker green and white leaves.  

These plants are low growing rarely exceeding 8 inches in height, they dislike cold draughts and direct sun.  In the summer I would place them in partial shade as their colours can fade if in too bright a light.  The soil should always be kept moist and the plants enjoy being misted regularly.  You'll often find small maranta plants are used for bottle gardens as the air inside the bottle is always humid.

The other plants in the Maranta group are Ctenanthe, Stromanthe and various varieties of Calathea - all of these plants have spectacular leaf markings and are great to grow alongside plain green leafed plants to add variety of colour and texture to a group planting.