Gynura Aurantiaca 'Purple Passion'

The Purple Passion Plant (Gynura aurantiaca) looks like it was designed to be photographed. Its deep green leaves are covered entirely in fine purple hairs that catch light at different angles — in bright light, the whole plant appears to glow violet. Run your finger across a leaf and it feels like velvet. It’s one of the most tactilely and visually distinctive houseplants you can own, and it’s genuinely easy to keep.

Young plants grow upright and compact. As they mature, stems begin to trail and vine, making them equally at home on a shelf, in a hanging basket, or cascading from a high surface. Non-toxic to cats, dogs, and humans.

One note on the flowers: Gynura does produce small orange blooms when it matures, but they have a strong, unpleasant odor. Most growers pinch them off as soon as they appear to keep the plant focused on foliage and to avoid the smell.