# Pogostemon Stellatus Broad: Featured Plant



## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Pogostemon stellatus Broad is a striking plant that catches my eye whenever I look at my 120P tank. The color is bright - reddish pink with a hint of light blue for the leaves, the stem is darker with similar range of color. It has a star like shape when viewed from the top and a fountain like symmetry from the side view.

It is recommended for a medium to high light tank planted in the mid-ground. It grows tall at a moderate growth rate and easily propagated by planting the top and leaving the bottom half to sprout a new stem or stems.


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

nice......... wish I would be able to keep some of these in the future


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks. I hope you'll try it in the future.

I wish you have an album/pictures of your tank in your profile page.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

What are your growing conditions for it? How much light, ferts, CO2? It certainly looks good!


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Complexity said:


> What are your growing conditions for it? How much light, ferts, CO2? It certainly looks good!


Light - TEK T5HO, 2 wpg for 4 hours and 4wpg for 4 hours

Fertilizer - Estimative Index dosing

CO2 - pressurized, inline diffuser, making the drop checker turn yellow green in color

I'm glad you like it. Thanks.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Your setup is very similar to mine except that my tank is a little taller and I use more lighting. I think mine are being shaded by other plants and may need to be moved.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Plants do compete on who gets the most light and nutrients. If you can move the shaded ones to a brighter section, it would benefit them. The ADA 120P is fortunately short allowing more light down to the substrate. The TEK lamp has Giesemann bulbs with 4 different color spectra.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Which bulbs are you running? i have a TEK 4x54w fixture, running two aquaflora and two midday Giesemann bulbs. Same setup on my 75g and 90g tanks. I'm currently running 12 hour photoperiods with a 5 hour burst on my 90g tank and a 1 hour burst on my 75g tank (the 90g is more stable than the 75g). The P. stellatus I got from you is in my 90g.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

I have a TEK 4X54 watt fixture also. I run the lights for a total of 8 hours. The Giesemann bulbs are one Aquaflora, one 12KK, one mid-day and one bluish spectrum bulb (I forgot the Kelvin or name of it).


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## daworldisblack (Jan 12, 2012)

Can we see a FTS? I'd like to see how those 4 bulbs in combination look like


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Crispino Ramos said:


> I have a TEK 4X54 watt fixture also. I run the lights for a total of 8 hours. The Giesemann bulbs are one Aquaflora, one 10,000K, one mid-day and one bluish spectrum bulb (I forgot the Kelvin or name of it).


So the two bulbs you have that are different from mine appear to not be in the red spectrum for plants, making your tank have even less 'plant light' (for the lack of a better term) than mine. Given that your lights are closer to the plants, we're pretty close in our setups. So, hopefully, my P. stellatus should perk up after it has adjusted to being shipped and all.

I'm really encouraged. I know the plants I got from you arrived in top condition. With our setups being so similar, I'm hoping they'll grow as well for me as they have grown for you. :smile:


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## dewalltheway (Jan 19, 2005)

Love the Pogostemon stellatus Broad. It is one plant that I have kept over the years. Do your stems get big? I have had mine get almost 1/2" in diameter and the leaf spread about 6" diameter. You have to have a large tank for these plants.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

I have not had the best of luck with the broadleaf variety of this species but the P. stellatus narrow leaf grew very good for me. Here is a great example of the potential of this plant.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

daworldisblack said:


> Can we see a FTS? I'd like to see how those 4 bulbs in combination look like


I hope this is the FTS that you want to see.


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## jgb77 (Dec 13, 2006)

This doesn't look like 'Broad Leaf' to me, it looks like regular Pogostemon stellatus. 
Broad leaf is in the picture ua hua posted and also what dewalltheway alluded to, broad leaf gets very large and the stem can be as wide as a finger. The leaf is similar to Linmnophila Aromatica size.
Cris are you sure this is P. stellatus 'Broad leaf'? I think it may be P. stellatus as seen here

John


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

jgb77 said:


> Cris are you sure this is P. stellatus 'Broad leaf'? I think it may be P. stellatus as seen hereJohn


I got this plant from my other aquarium. The leaves and stems are about twice wider in the other tank (75 gallon bowfront). I'm sure this is not P stellatus 'Narrow Leaf' which I grow also. The size of my P stellatus narrow leaf is about the same as the Ludwigia pantanal (left corner of the 120P).


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## ZLogic (Aug 7, 2011)

This plant was very iron demanding for me. When i got it, it was identical to the first picture. After a month or so it developed gold stems and pink/purple leaves. I started dosing iron and and they went back to green. Then i tried taking cuttings and propagating, after cutting, they staggered, shed their leaves and died. I was sad.


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

Crispino Ramos said:


> Thanks. I hope you'll try it in the future.
> 
> I wish you have an album/pictures of your tank in your profile page.


Crisp, 
I wish I have the photography skills and that my tank looks half as decent the ppl in this forum. I am embarrassed to even post pic of my tank due to my lack of aquascaping skills.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

The first photo is not Pogostemon Stellatus broad leaf, its Pogostemon Stellatus. The broad leaf looks more like Limno. Aromatica.

Regular Stellatus
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=93

Broad leaf
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=80

Aromatica
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=98

Let it grow out of the top of the tank and flower, then you'll know what it is.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

ua hua said:


> I have not had the best of luck with the broadleaf variety of this species but the P. stellatus narrow leaf grew very good for me. Here is a great example of the potential of this plant.


That looks like the broad leaf to me.


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## jgb77 (Dec 13, 2006)

bigstick120 said:


> The first photo is not Pogostemon Stellatus broad leaf, its Pogostemon Stellatus. The broad leaf looks more like Limno. Aromatica.
> 
> Regular Stellatus
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=93
> ...


Hey...That's what I said, lol

John


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Then I agree with you!



jgb77 said:


> Hey...That's what I said, lol
> 
> John


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

bigstick120 said:


> The first photo is not Pogostemon Stellatus broad leaf, its Pogostemon Stellatus. The broad leaf looks more like Limno. Aromatica.


The first photo is that of a Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf. I've had both Narrow Leaf and Broad Leaf varieties for many years.

Here are pictures of a stem of Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf grown from a different tank.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

This is by far one of my favorite stem plants. I have it growing under (2)T-5HO bulbs in an Aquasun fixture about 5" above the waters surface in a 21" deep tank. Not near as red since I have lower light levels, but it has a nice pinkish hue in the upper portions with the lower portions turning an olive / orange. I am using a modified EI method of fertz. and pressurized co2 (yellow with the drop checker.)

Great plant!


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## jgb77 (Dec 13, 2006)

Your new picture does look like the 'broad leaf', though the first picture doesn't.
Maybe different growing conditions going on here? Not trying to argue with you.

Also, just so people know who may read this thread. There is no 'narrow leaf' variant of this plant. 
There is P. stellatus 'Broad Leaf', P. stellatus and also another var. that is P. stealltus 'Dassen' or 'very fine'. 

This is at least my understanding, unless someone more knowledgeable can correct me.

John


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

jgb77 said:


> Your new picture does look like the 'broad leaf', though the first picture doesn't.
> Maybe different growing conditions going on here? Not trying to argue with you.
> 
> Also, just so people know who may read this thread. There is no 'narrow leaf' variant of this plant.
> ...


John, I appreciate your comments. I'm sure that I have identified this plant (P. stellatus 'Broad Leaf') 100% correctly.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

jgb77 said:


> This doesn't look like 'Broad Leaf' to me, it looks like regular Pogostemon stellatus.
> Broad leaf is in the picture ua hua posted and also what dewalltheway alluded to, broad leaf gets very large and the stem can be as wide as a finger. The leaf is similar to Linmnophila Aromatica size.
> Cris are you sure this is P. stellatus 'Broad leaf'? I think it may be P. stellatus as seen here
> 
> John


I know that Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf can have a stem as wide as a finger because that's how some of the stems grow in the other tank.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

No need to get so defensive, Cris. 

It's really hard to tell whether it is 'broad leaf' or not. I had both versions growing in my 90G a few years ago, and it seemed like the more and more i trimmed the 'broad leaf', the leaves got narrower and the stem got skinnier due to constant branching.

However, having seen Cris's plants several times (including recently) IN PERSON and growing in his tanks, i would guess that what is pictured is the 'broad leaf' variety, even though it deceptively looks like the narrow version. The reason i say this is because i have never seen the narrow leaf variety get a dark stem like that. I'm not saying that it's not possible, but when i was growing both of these plants, the 'broad leaf' version got that red/brown stem color while the 'narrow leaf' didn't. Plus, the leaves near the top on Cris's specimens (pictured, 1st post) don't really look to be skinny enough to be the 'narrow leaf' version. 

Those are my thoughts, at least.

Left is 'broad leaf' (confirmed), right is 'narrow leaf'/regular:


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> No need to get so defensive, Cris.
> 
> It's really hard to tell whether it is 'broad leaf' or not. I had both versions growing in my 90G a few years ago, and it seemed like the more and more i trimmed the 'broad leaf', the leaves got narrower and the stem got skinnier due to constant branching.
> 
> ...


Philip, You have great healthy plants. Thanks a million for the awesome photograph. roud:


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

keithy said:


> Crisp,
> I wish I have the photography skills and that my tank looks half as decent the ppl in this forum. I am embarrassed to even post pic of my tank due to my lack of aquascaping skills.


I wish you would not under estimate your skills and tank. Just share them for friendship's sake. :icon_wink


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

bigstick120 said:


> Let it grow out of the top of the tank and flower, then you'll know what it is.


There is no point in getting it to flower... we all agree that it's definitely not _Limnophila aromatica_, and that it is definitely one of the two variations of _Pogostemon stellatus_. As far as i know, both the 'narrow leaf' and the 'broad leaf' versions will have the exact same flower, since they are the same species. They are simply just different variations of the same plant. It's the same way with _Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'cuba'_, _'pantanal'_, and _'araguaia'_-- all found in different locations with relatively distinctive physical differences, but they all have the same yellow flower with the same 4 round petal shape.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Noahma said:


> This is by far one of my favorite stem plants. I have it growing under (2)T-5HO bulbs in an Aquasun fixture about 5" above the waters surface in a 21" deep tank. Not near as red since I have lower light levels, but it has a nice pinkish hue in the upper portions with the lower portions turning an olive / orange. I am using a modified EI method of fertz. and pressurized co2 (yellow with the drop checker.)
> 
> Great plant!


Noahma, Thanks for the compliment!  Good choice of favorites, I think your Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf plant looks great from the way you described it. Please share some pictures of it. :icon_wink


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> There is no point in getting it to flower... we all agree that it's definitely not _Limnophila aromatica_, and that it is definitely one of the two variations of _Pogostemon stellatus_. As far as i know, both the 'narrow leaf' and the 'broad leaf' versions will have the exact same flower, since they are the same species. They are simply just different variations of the same plant. It's the same way with _Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'cuba'_, _'pantanal'_, and _'araguaia'_-- they all have the same yellow flower with the same 4 round petal shape.


Very well articulated, my good friend!


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> we all agree that it's definitely not _Limnophila aromatica_


I have some of the _P. Stellatus_ from Cris, and I am absolutely positive it's not _Limnophila aromatica_.

As far as which version of _P. Stellatus_ it might be, I'm going to take Cris' word for it. What I have now is too new to tell, but I know that the plants I received from Cris were in excellent condition. They were among the best plants I have ever received from a seller on here (and I ordered a lot of plants so I'm not talking about just one or two plants here). They were packaged perfectly and arrived in excellent condition despite our very hot temperatures. I could tell a lot of care went into every part of the process.

So while my current stems are still going through the transition phase so they can't be identified one way or the other, I believe if Cris is positive they are 'Broad Leaf', then I'm going to trust that that's what it is.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Complexity said:


> I have some of the _P. Stellatus_ from Cris, and I am absolutely positive it's not _Limnophila aromatica_....They were among the best plants I have ever received from a seller on here (and I ordered a lot of plants so I'm not talking about just one or two plants here). They were packaged perfectly and arrived in excellent condition despite our very hot temperatures. I could tell a lot of care went into every part of the process.


I'm wondering how it would look like growing in your tank conditions. Thanks for the comment.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

That looks like the broad leaf now, but your first photo it sure looked like the regular. It would help if you could get a photo in focus!:icon_lol:



Crispino Ramos said:


> The first photo is that of a Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf. I've had both Narrow Leaf and Broad Leaf varieties for many years.
> 
> Here are pictures of a stem of Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf grown from a different tank.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

bigstick120 said:


> That looks like the broad leaf now, but your first photo it sure looked like the regular. It would help if you could get a photo in focus!:icon_lol:


Some people are good at taking pictures of plants and some are good at growing plants. And after ordering plants from Cris on 3 seperate occasions I can tell you that he is good at growing plants. Now as far as taking pics thats another story.:icon_lol: Don't feel bad though Cris because I can't take pics of my plants either. Out of the hundreds of pics I have tried taking of my plants I only ended up with maybe a dozen that you could even tell what they are. I do believe that the plant you have is the broad leaf variety. I have yet to see anyone that has this plant look as good as the ones in the pic. I posted so heres hoping that you can grow these out so more people can enjoy this beautiful plant. Mine didn't fair to well after multiple cuttings. They just kept getting thinner and thinner.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

I guess we all have plants that excel in our tanks and ones that are challenging. Plants seem like people, there are some that like to be around us and a few that disappear. I appreciate your kind and generous comment. Let us enjoy this hobby, alright?


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Crispino Ramos said:


> I'm wondering how it would look like growing in your tank conditions. Thanks for the comment.


Me too! I'm giving it everything it could possibly hope for. It had a rough start on my end because I tried something new with the macro ferts which didn't turn out the way I wanted (mixed them with water first, but I put all 3 macros together which caused them to solidify). Then I got busy and didn't dose ferts for a week. So that's two weeks of poor/no ferts. Not the best idea.

But I've got the tank on track now so we'll see how it grows at this point. It's already putting out some new growth and it's pearling a little right now so it should be only a matter of time before it takes off and starts really growing.


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## jgb77 (Dec 13, 2006)

I certainly meant no offense to Cris here. 
I'm not quite sure though how many times people have bought plants from him has to do with the fact that his plant pictured in the first post did not look like the plant he labelled it as.
That's wasn't only my opinion, but a few other posters as well. 
Anyways, I am sorry Cris, if you took my questioning the plant you posted personally, I did not mean it that way. 

John


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

jgb77 said:


> I certainly meant no offense to Cris here.
> I'm not quite sure though how many times people have bought plants from him has to do with the fact that his plant pictured in the first post did not look like the plant he labelled it as.
> That's wasn't only my opinion, but a few other posters as well.
> Anyways, I am sorry Cris, if you took my questioning the plant you posted personally, I did not mean it that way.
> ...


I have to say when I saw the first picture I wasn't sure if it was the broad lead variety either but after seeing the other pics I do think he has the broad leaf variety. The ones I had in the past looked just like the first picture when I received them but after some time they got much bigger stems that turned reddish purple and the spread on them got a lot bigger than the P. Stellatus I already had. I don't think any offense should be taken by anyone. This is a hobby we all love and most of us have the best intentions even though things can be taken differently than we meant when reading a post over the internet.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

ua hua said:


> The ones I had in the past looked just like the first picture when I received them but after some time they got much bigger stems that turned reddish purple and the spread on them got a lot bigger than the P. Stellatus I already had.


Thanks for sharing your experience in growing this beautiful Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Here is an older bad pic of mine


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Noah, Thanks for the cool picture. Nice combination of plants along with the P stellatus Broad and the rock that has a character to it. BTW, what's the dark green lanceolate leafed plant?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Crispino Ramos said:


> Noah, Thanks for the cool picture. Nice combination of plants and the rock has a character to it. BTW, what's the dark green lanceolate leafed plant?


Thanks! The plant you are asking about is Pogostemon erectus. Great plant, medium growth speed. It is no longer in any of my tanks, but I have been contemplating putting a few stems of it in my Flora again.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf (pictures taken on 8-26-12).


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Ditto on the broad leaf ID. It's a massive plant, the narrow can get that way also, but not quite as much as the broad.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Crispino Ramos said:


> Pogostemon stellatus Broad Leaf (pictures taken on 8-26-12).


These look more like it.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Thank you, Tom!


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