This plant can grow to more than 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and broad, with long narrow leaves up to 40 cm (16 in) in length.

The leaves are adorned on the secondary veins with dark green bands, which meet and merge in the margins.

[2][3][4] The cultivar 'Tricolor' is a common ornamental variety, which as a houseplant in the UK has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

[6] This cultivar is visually very similar to Stromanthe Sanguinea 'Triostar', and the two are often confused.

[7] Media related to Ctenanthe oppenheimiana at Wikimedia Commons