Little Star

Pogostemon helferi

Found by aquarists on the Thai–Burmese border and known in the hobby by its Thai name, dao noi, "little star". The crinkled, wavy-edged leaves radiate from a short stem and look unlike anything else in a planted tank.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 3 – 10 cm (1.2 – 3.9 in)
Temperature: 15 – 28 °C (59 – 82 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: on stone and wood +3 on stone and wood, midground, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: cuttings, division +1 cuttings, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

A compact plant 3 to 10 cm tall and about as wide, with deep green leaves whose edges curl in tight waves. The rosette-like habit gives it a texture no other foreground plant has.

Keeping

Wants good light, a nutrient-rich substrate and moderate carbon dioxide; with all three it stays low and puts out side shoots freely. In poor light it stretches and loses the curl that makes it worth growing.

Placement

Foreground and nano tanks, and one of the few small plants that also attaches to stone and wood. A group of several plants set a few centimetres apart closes into a low carpet.

Propagation

Side shoots form at the base, root on their own and can be separated once they have a few leaves. Dividing an old plant is the usual way to increase a group.

Water conditions match

The water suits 855 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Other varieties: Pogostemon Helferi Platinum, Pogostemon Helferi 'Downoi', Pogostemon Helferi Downoi Red

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Anuragia helferi (Hook. f.) Raizada, Dysophylla helferi Hook. f., Eusteralis helferi (Hook. f.) Panigrahi, Anuragia helferi, Dysophylla helferi, Eusteralis helferi
Pogostemon helferi: (Hook. f.) Press
Family: Lamiaceae

Little Star

Tank conditions

Care and keeping