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Re: Eustralis is really Pogostemon stellatus

Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 09:59:12 -0500 James Purchase wrote;

>At the risk of being chastised again by some of our correspondents who seems
>to feel that such things really don't matter.... I've noticed another group
>of questions concerning the care of some plants commonly identified within
>the hobby as being "Eustralis".

Good one James
I have looked everywhere for a reference to "Eustralis stellata" but 
cant find any.   I can find plenty of references to Dysophylla 
stellata and Pogostemon stellatus.   The most recent name being 
Pogostemon stellatus.  I have a book that divides Pogostemon 
stellatus into two subspecies, Pogostemon stellatus var. stellatus 
and Pogostemon stellatus var. roxburgianus.   The book is called 
"Freshwater Plants of PNG" by Leach and Osborne.   The references 
cited in the book is :   Keng, H. (1978).  Labiatae.  Fl. Males. ser. 
1,  8: 301-394.   there is also information about Pogostemon 
stellatus in the book "Floodplain Flora, a flora of the coastal 
floodplains of the Northern Territory, Australia" by Cowie, Short and 
Osterkamp published 2000.   they have the plant Pogostemon stellatus 
in the family LAMIACEAE and the distribution of it from India to 
southern China, Japan, Malesia and Northern Australia.

I grow Pogostemon stellatus from several different locations across 
the top of Australia and a plant I obtained from the aquarium trade 
as Eustralis stellata, and to me there are a few minor differences in 
leaf shapes, colour and size but the flowers are all the same.   If 
anybody is interested in some photos of wild Pogo (Eustralis) send me 
an email and I will send you a picture or two.

Cheers
Dave Wilson