Description
Physostegia purpurea is rather little known in the aquarium hobby. The Eastern False Dragonhead is a swamp plant from the southeastern USA that is able to grow above and under water. It forms an about 10 cm high rosette of elongate stalked leaves under aquarium conditions. In its terrestrial form, it develops up to 1 m tall flowering shoots with opposite leaves and pretty intensely red-violet flowers.
This plant is not very demanding, however CO2 addition and a nutrient-rich substrate are recommendable. It tolerates cold water far below 20℃; higher temperatures above 25℃ are unfavourable. The growth is rather slow. Adventitious plantlets appear on detached leaves as well as on flowering shoots.
The Eastern False Dragonhead fits well into the foreground to midground with its low rosette-like growth. It is an appropriate plant for North America-themed aquariums and is also interesting as emersed plant for paludariums and Wabi-Kusa.
Although cultivated for a long time, Physostegia purpurea is little known in the aquarium hobby. The Eastern false dragonhead is a perennial swamp plant from the southeastern USA that is able to grow emersed and submerged. It occurs in open, acid habitats such as wet pine savannas. Under aquarium conditions, it develops an about 10 cm high rosette of elongate stalked leaves. The emersed form develops up to about 1 m tall flowering shoots with opposite leaves. Pretty intensely red-violet flowers appear in spike-like inflorescences. They reveal its relationship to the Obedient plant or Virginia Lions-heart, Physostegia virginiana, likewise native to North America and a popular winter-hardy garden perennial in Europe.
Source
Flowgrow
Characteristic
Low rosette plant from North America
Medium green leaves
Also for cold water aquariums
Develops pretty flowers as emersed plant
Synonyms
Prasium purpureum Walter
Complete Botanical Name
Physostégia purpúrea (Walter) S.F.Blake
Family
Lamiaceae
Genus
Physostegia
Category
Background
Difficulty
easy
Growth
very slow
Carbon Dioxide
need
pH Value
5-7
Temperature Tolerance
4-25℃
Carbonate Hardness
0-14 dKH
General Hardness
0-30 °dGH
Propagation
Runners, Cuttings, Splitting, Cutting off daughter plants
Can Grow Emersed?
yes
