Purple passion
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Middling It gives warning, with time to act.
Also called Purple Passion Vine, Purple Velvet Plant, royal velvet plant, velvet plant and velvetplant.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
What the sources say about its care
Sources file this plant under other names: Gynura aurantica (ASPCA). Citations below point at the name its source uses.
- Light
- Medium light 100–150 fcClemson Extension · read 13 September 2026Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Moist but well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H1B — 10–15°C 10–15 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Loam; pH Acid or Alkaline or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA, filed as Gynura aurantica · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA, filed as Gynura aurantica · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Leaf blade tips go crisp and brown
A narrow dry border on the purple passion, often with a faint yellow line against the healthy tissue. It appears on several leaf blades at once rather than spreading from one.
Transpiration rises as the air dries, and the tissue furthest from a vein loses first. Penn State Extension notes there is no single humidity figure that suits every indoor plant, which is why this site publishes a range rather than a number.
Telling it apart: Where the plant stands. Browning concentrated on the side facing a heater points at the air.
Penn State ExtensionDiagnose brown tips and edges on this Purple passion- Pale, undersized leaf blades at the tips of the stems
Older leaf blades on the purple passion keep their colour while each new one comes in thinner, with a longer stretch of bare stem below it.
Medium light is where its source places it. Below that the plant spends stored sugar faster than it makes it, and reaching is what that looks like from outside.
Telling it apart: What the newest growth looks like beside the oldest. Light changes what arrives next; feeding changes what is already on the plant.
Clemson ExtensionDiagnose yellowing leaves on this Purple passion- Soft, sagging leaf blades low on the vine in soil that has not dried
Yellow spreads upward through the purple passion a few leaf blades at a time, and the compost darkens and stays cold to the touch.
A pot that does not dry between waterings keeps the roots in water rather than in damp soil, and the leaf blades above them yellow for want of what those roots can no longer send up.
Telling it apart: Two inches down with a finger. Above the soil, drowning and thirst look the same; below it they are opposites.
RHSDiagnose drooping on this Purple passion
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Purple passion.
Routine care
- Watering
- Keep the soil moist but water less often in winter, since too much water can cause rot.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- Stem cuttingsNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Use bottom heat to root softwood cuttings during late spring, or semi-ripe ones during summer.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Pruning is not needed. If the plant grows too big, cut it in spring or summer.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by glasshouse red spider mite and aphids. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Gynura aurantiaca, called purple passion or velvet plant, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is native to Southeast Asia but grown in many other places as a house plant. In warm regions, it is frequently grown outdoors on patios and in gardens rather than inside buildings, and hence it has escaped into the wild in Africa, Australia, South America, Mesoamerica, Florida, and a few other places.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- Sumatera to Jawa, SulawesiWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Sumatera to JawaNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Sumatra to JawaRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- wet tropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- climbing shrubWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026PerennialNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Climbing, Columnar upright, Spreading branched (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 12–24 in; width 24–48 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height 0.1-0.5 metres; spread 0.5-1 metres after 2–5 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers orange; blooms in fall, winterNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers yellow in winter; orange in winter; red in winterRHS · read 13 September 2026
More of the Asteraceae family
Barberton daisyEdges of the leaves brown while the middle stays sound
String of pearlsDry scorched spots after a move into a sunnier spot
Banana VineSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Blue ChalksticksSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Candle PlantSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Candy LeafSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Plants with similar care
BougainvilleaCrisp margins that appear in winter
Creeping figLeaf blade tips go crisp and brown
English ivyCrisp margins that appear in winter
Heartleaf philodendronA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
MonsteraBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Rubber plantCrisp margins that appear in winter
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Clemson Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.