Bucephalandra Brownie Blue

Care at a glance

Overview

Treat it like Anubias: glue or tie the rhizome to rock or driftwood and never bury the rhizome or it will rot. It does fine under low light without CO2, though injected CO2 and stable water speed up its already slow growth and bring out the blue-green iridescent sheen on adapted submerged leaves. It can sulk and drop older leaves after a move, so give it time and avoid sudden parameter swings.

In the wild

Bucephalandra are rheophytes native to Borneo, where they grow attached to rocks and wood along fast-moving forest streams. During the wet season they sit fully submerged, and in the dry season they emerge to flower above the waterline. Brownie Blue is one of many named trade forms selected from these wild populations.

Good to know

The genus Bucephalandra belongs to the arum family (Araceae), the same family as Anubias and Cryptocoryne, and its name refers to the bull-head shape of the spadix. Taxonomy is unsettled, with only a few dozen described species but hundreds of commercial cultivar names. It grows from a creeping rhizome and produces a true aroid inflorescence (spathe and spadix) when grown emersed.

Did you know

The prized blue shimmer is structural color, not pigment. Microscopic cell structures in the leaf surface scatter light, so the same leaf can look plain brown or vivid blue depending on the angle and lighting.

Related plants

• Bucephalandra Deep Purple

  Bucephalandra sp. 'Deep Purple'

  Low lightEpiphyte3.1 in (8 cm)
• Bucephalandra Wavy Green

  Bucephalandra sp. 'Wavy Green'

  Low lightEpiphyte3.1 in (8 cm)

• 

  Bucephalandra motleyana

  Bucephalandra motleyana

  Low lightEpiphyte3.9 in (10 cm)
• Bucephalandra Apple Leaf

  Bucephalandra sp. 'Apple Leaf'

  Low lightEpiphyte3.9 in (10 cm)
• Bucephalandra Godzilla

  Bucephalandra sp. 'Godzilla'

  Medium lightEpiphyte3.9 in (10 cm)
• Bucephalandra Red

  Bucephalandra sp. 'Red'

  Low lightEpiphyte3.9 in (10 cm)