why do first leaves of some house plants look different than the latter ones?

Question

In some plants (ex. Maranta/the prayer plant) the first leaf is smaller and paler or nor as detailed as the leaves that grow later. Why is that?

In: 2

Answer 1

These are called cotyledons and they aren’t permanent leaves, these are leaves just to get the plant going and are there to gather energy as quickly as possible before the seed runs out of nutrients and energy.