# I just got purple pogostemon erectus ... ? Pics



## Tbonedawg08 (Apr 11, 2016)

crisp330 said:


> I just picked up some pogostemon erectus from my LFS. At first I thought the lower leaves were dying and turning brown. After viewing them under the lighting in my tank, I see they're actually purple! I bought them in a commercial potted plant with rock wool and the standard plastic container, with a plant tag in it (actually this one didn't have a tag but others of the same plant did, stating it was pogostemon erectus). Only the lower older leaves are purple.
> 
> Is this good/healthy growth, a stressed state, how it changes from emersed or terrestrial to submerged, bad/dying leaves that happen to die off purple, or what? I know the flower of this plant is purple, but these aren't flowers, it appears on the regular leaves. Even the emersed photos I see online aren't purple except the actual flowering. Only one other online photo shows it purple on reddit, but there is no useful info in the thread.
> 
> ...


Woah. I want some!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

crisp330 said:


> I just picked up some pogostemon erectus from my LFS. At first I thought the lower leaves were dying and turning brown. After viewing them under the lighting in my tank, I see they're actually purple! I bought them in a commercial potted plant with rock wool and the standard plastic container, with a plant tag in it (actually this one didn't have a tag but others of the same plant did, stating it was pogostemon erectus). Only the lower older leaves are purple.
> 
> Is this good/healthy growth, a stressed state, how it changes from emersed or terrestrial to submerged, bad/dying leaves that happen to die off purple, or what? I know the flower of this plant is purple, but these aren't flowers, it appears on the regular leaves. Even the emersed photos I see online aren't purple except the actual flowering. Only one other online photo shows it purple on reddit, but there is no useful info in the thread.
> 
> ...


Hi crisp330,

It would be cool if it were a 'purple erectus' but it could easily be a deficiency.



> 1. Plant dark green
> a. At first, all leaves are dark green and growth is stunted. Purple pigment often develops in older leaves, particularly on the underside of the leaf along the veins...Leaves drop early... *phosphorous deficiency*


By the way that appears to be emersed growth leaves, here are a couple of pictures to help.

Pogostemon erectus submerged growth









Pogostemon erectus emersed growth cuttings just starting to transition to submerged growth


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

+1^ emersed growth. 

(not my pic)


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## crisp330 (Dec 1, 2011)

Thanks for the pics! I figured it was grown emersed from the look of it, just had never seen the purple before. Looking back at the only other purple pogostemon erectus pic I found on the net, it does look like it was grown submerged though. What do you guys think?









(from https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/2u0lo3/has_anyone_ever_has_pogostemon_erectus_turn_pink/)

I agree it looks like a deficiency, and appears only in old growth and specifically more on the tips of the older leaves, which is consistent with how my new plants look. The Reddit thread doesn't really have any useful info, but one person suggests terrestrial plants turn blue-ish with a K deficiency. 

I'm not sure, but it's the best looking deficiency I've ever seen, that much I know!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

crisp330 said:


> I'm not sure, but it's the best looking deficiency I've ever seen, that much I know!


Nitrogen limitation to colour plants is also nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## wlevine09 (Apr 7, 2014)

I want to come back to comment, I actually posted that picture to reddit. The pogostemon was grown fully submerged. I was running a ray2 with no risers on a mr aqua 6 gallon tank. I think it was a burning effect from too much light. eventually I raised the light and the coloration was lost as those leaves fell off and died.


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