Shaving brush plant

Care at a glance

The shaving brush plant grows as an upright stalk topped with a tuft of fine, lime-bearing filaments, exactly the shape of an old-fashioned shaving brush. It belongs in sand, where it anchors itself with a root-like structure; on rock it does not survive.

As a calcareous alga it needs stable calcium and alkalinity values, just like corals. It grows slowly and is vulnerable to grazing fish and urchins, so give it a quiet corner of the sand bed with moderate light and flow.

Related species

• Dragon’s breath algaeHalymenia sp.
• Mermaid’s fanUdotea sp.
• Red mangroveRhizophora mangle
• Sea lettuce (ulva)Ulva lactuca
• Sea grapes (ornamental macroalgae)Botryocladia sp.
• Gracilaria (red macroalgae)Gracilaria sp.