Star Pogostemon

Pogostemon stellatus

Narrow pointed leaves in dense whorls that turn orange, pink and red under strong light — one of the showiest background plants there is, and one of the least forgiving.

Light: high
Difficulty: difficult
Height: 15 – 30 cm (5.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 15 – 32 °C (59 – 90 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 1 – 18 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Thin pointed leaves sit in pairs along the whole stem, close enough to make it look like a bottle brush. Height 15–30 cm in a tank. Colour depends entirely on conditions: from plain green to orange and deep pink.

Keeping

Difficult, and the difficulty is not one thing but three: it needs strong light, carbon dioxide and steady feeding with trace elements at once. Pale leaves are the first sign that feeding is short. Even in good conditions growth sometimes stops for no visible reason, then starts again. Plants bought from a shop are usually short and compact because they were grown above water — they look nothing like themselves until they settle in.

Placement

The back or middle of a larger tank, in a group of several stems. In a small tank it outgrows the space in a month.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and plant it, the old stem branches below the cut.

Water conditions match

The water suits 841 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras 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 Pseudomugil paskai

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

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

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: Eusteralis stellata, Pogostemon stellatus 'Broad Leaf', Pogostemon stellatus "Octopus", Pogostemon stellatus Topf, Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf, Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf in Vitro XL, Eusteralis Stellata, Pogostemon Stellatus Dassen

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Dysophylla benthamiana Hance, Dysophylla stellata (Lour.) Benth., Eusteralis stellata (Lour.) Panigrahi, Eusteralis stellata 'Broad Leaf', Anuragia stellata, Anuragia tomentosa, Anuragia verticillata, Dysophylla benthamiana, Dysophylla benthamiana hainanensis, Dysophylla esquirolii, Dysophylla japonica, Dysophylla nana, Dysophylla ramosissima, Dysophylla stellata, Dysophylla stellata hainanensis, Dysophylla tomentosa, Dysophylla verticillata, Dysophylla verticillata gracilis, Eusteralis pumila, Eusteralis quaternifolia, Eusteralis stellata, Eusteralis stellata roxburghiana, Eusteralis tomentosa, Mentha quaternifolia, Mentha stellata, Mentha verticillata, Pogostemon benthamianus, Pogostemon ciliatus, Pogostemon erectus tomentosus, Pogostemon japonicus, Pogostemon stellatus roxburghianus, Pogostemon verticillatus, Pogostemon verticillatus macrostachya
Pogostemon stellatus: (Lour.) Kuntze
Family: Lamiaceae
Conservation status: LC

Star Pogostemon

Tank conditions

Care and keeping