A few house plants have purple leaves on top; purple undersides are a little more numerous, but there is one whose foliage is purple both on top and underneath.
I refer to the delightful but little-known Setcreasea, Purple Heart. It is worth making a concentrated effort to secure.
Setcreasea: A Delightful Indoor Plant
My first Setcreasea was a tired-looking plant about a foot tall, lying on its side unnoticed and unwanted among assorted small plants on a florist’s bench. It looked as if it had flowered or was about to flower.
The girl at the counter did not know its name but thought that although it did not bloom, it was supposed to be pretty purple, especially if kept in the sun.
At home, I transplanted it to a 6-inch pot, watered it well, stacked it up against its learning stem, and put it in my sunniest window.
It retaliated by becoming two feet tall in a few months, producing three fine offshoots at its base and sending out an additional growth of *A” lavender-pink, three-petaled flowers. These have appeared one at a time on several successive days about a week apart.
One flower lasts a day, but although they are ephemeral, they come in such regular succession that their brave size and orchid-like color make a fair showing. The flowers, however, are not the most important reason for growing Setcreasea.
The thick, all-purple leaves are 6” or 7” inches long, an inch wide at their widest part, the margins being decorated with attractive rough hairs.
Propagation and Maintenance
From Mexico, Setcreasea delights in all the sun available. It should be allowed to dry out, and then watered thoroughly.
It is easily propagated by rooting in soil, sand, or water, and likes a cool window rather than a hot one.
When my plant had reached 2’ feet, I wondered about its use as a hanging plant and withdrew its support. The additional weight caused the brittle stem to snap at the pot’s edge.
I left the off-shoots to grow in the original pot and staked my inadvertently acquired cutting in a separate pot where it rooted without wilting.
Versatile Uses
Setcreasea may be used at the border, but it is not hardy. This, however, seems poor treatment for a plant that excels as a pot plant indoors.
I like to use three pots of it, trained upward on tall stakes to create a year-round screen of solid purple in one window, top to bottom.
S. Striatum: A Unique Variation
S. striatum is a low-growing striped white creeper with rich purple underneath. Purple Heart keeps its color well even after a series of dark days, thereby differing from the Chinese velvet plant, Gynura aurantiaca, whose deep purple leaves (on top only) are so thickly haired that they seem to have a velvet-like texture. Even the heavy stem is covered with purple and violet hairs.
Dark weather fades S. strata’s terminal leaves to green, but the sun restores their color.
A sunny window is indicated, then, and it needs to be kept moist. Older leaves seem to hold their color well. It is propagated by cuttings.
Its loosely clustered, yellow-orange flowers are rather insignificant but have some interesting value.
Moses-in-the-Bulrushes: A Stiffer Growing Plant
Another excellent plant with a purple underside and a deep green top is Rhoeo discolor, variously called Moses-in-the-bulrushes, Baby-in-the-cradle, and Moses-in-a-boat. It is a stiffer growing plant than Setcreasea, needing no support.
The small waxy white flowers are borne in thick clusters inside their boat-shaped calyx.
I keep this plant on brackets at middle-window height (higher might cut too much sun from them) so an observer may look up and see the purple reverse side, the green uppers naturally turning their faces to the light.
Zebrina Purpusii
Zebrina purpusii has longish, hairy leaves, green on top and purple underneath. It is interesting to note that Zebrina, Rhoeo, Setcreasea, other Tradescantias, and Wandering Jew seem to overlap, all having some of the spiderwort characteristics.
Foster’s Favorite
For striking accents, contrast the purple foliage against deep blue pottery, or add a single African violet or dark blue aechmea hybrid, Foster’s Favorite.
Water moderately—the water is poured into the center receptacle from which the flower stalk emerges. Its glossy, wine-purple foliage will provide a colorful, happy setting for you.
44659 by Edith S. Abbott