I have this plant that I bought a few years ago. I am wondering what the deal is with it. All new leaves are almost pure white. As they age they get a marbled variegation, then they eventually go all green.
It is a virus? Or just some sort of unstable variegation?? I think the name of it is "Diamond Dust".
First photo shows the new leaf.
Second shows 3 leaves, in all stages of the colors it gets.
second photo
well I guess Lari Ann doesn;t have an answer for me, anyone else care to take a shot at an opinion?
I've been thinking about your plant for a while. I do remember that I've seen this type of behavior in a plant before, and IMHO it is a unique type of chimeric variegation. In this case the distribution of variegated cells is such that the initial, immature leaf appears to have no chlorophyll. Normal leaves are lighter green on emergence anyway, indicating that the full development of chloroplasts is an ongoing process not complete on initial leaf emergence. Since the cells that yield the light or white areas on a variegated leaf have no chlorophyll, in this plant all the cells that would normally be green on emergence are pale or white. The cells that undergo chloroplast maturation after emergence are the ones that cause the leaf to green up, but even amongst these, some are variegated and some are normal, so hence the marbling.
Hope this helps, and sorry for the delay in replying,
LariAnn
That is the kind of explanation I was looking for. I posted a photo of this plant about a year ago when it was much smaller on another site where there are several serious aroid folks and was told then that it probably had some horrible virus, that it would not live long, and that they hoped I had not paid a lot for it becuase in their opinion I had wasted my money. I am happy that they were proven wrong, it has gotten stronger, larger and is very healthy. It is about to bloom, for the first time, and so far, the bloom is coming out WHITE on a white stalk. It should be interesting to see what happens.
I have 2 of the philodendrons that do this also, but they seem to go the OTHER way...leaves will come out a pale green then revert to white. It does not seem to affect their ability to photosynthesize
I have some of the newest Thai Caladiums; one of them is all red and you'd think that such a plant with completely colored leaves wouldn't be able to photosynthesize. But in fact there is still green there, but it is almost invisible. In older leaves, the red color darkens, but this darkening is actually due to the presence of green cells, which become more visible if you look at the leaf from the underside. Chloroplasts are mobile in leaf cells; in shade they move nearer the surface of the leaf, making it look deeper green, while in bright light or sun they move deeper into the cell, making the leaf color a lighter green. Additionally, each of the cell layers in a leaf may have the chloroplasts oriented differently. The palisade cells, for example, are vertically oriented (i.e. perpendicular to the leaf surface) so their chloroplasts are stacked, meaning the lower ones don't get as much light. Because the lower ones have others stacked above them, the lower ones don't contribute much to the green color of the leaf. Variegation can occur in any of the leaf cell layers, or all of them. Pure white through and through requires that all leaf cell layers be devoid of chlorophyll; otherwise, the patches will be varying shades of green, depending upon which cell layer(s) are variegated.
LariAnn
This message was edited Jul 2, 2009 7:02 PM
This is the first bloom ever on this plant. It started out looking all white, on a white stem, like the new leaf. Then the stem turned pink and the inflo turned PURPLE! Its very cool.
Goth, that thing is cool! You did good to keep it.
Always love LariAnn's lessons...........er..replies. (Serious)
I actually think Lari Ann is Da Bomb. But I hate it when she refers me to the "Exotic Rainforest" website. (Not Da Bomb)
This is a very cool plant. I am glad I didn't ditch it when the 'experts' said it had an intractable virus.
"... all red and you'd think that such a plant with completely colored leaves wouldn't be able to photosynthesize ..."
A lot of rainforest plants have dark red emergent leaves which later (usually) turn green. Is there any obvious sense to that, or is that another of those secrets plants keep to themselves?
We perceive most leaves as green, because this is the colour that leaves reflect and do NOT use for energy. Regular "green leaves" absorb mainly blue to turquoise light waves (410 to 480 nm) and orange light waves (620 to 670 nm). Red and Purple pigments (usually Anthocyanins) absorb Blue Green and Yellow light waves (480 to 620 nm) and reflect the Violet to blue and Red to Orange parts of the spectrum. Dark leaves in plants growing under shaded conditions are a reflection of that plants need to absorb as much light as possible because the plant needs the energy to drive its physical processes, but note that a plant has to have evolved to contain the right chemicals (usually anthocyanins) or it won't grow well in the shade. A good example is the two related genera Ctenanthe and Stromanthe - they often have purple undersides to the leaves - these pigment carrying cells can trap energy from light waves that the upper green cell layers don't collect, thus giving the plants an "extra bite at the cherry" so to speak. As an aside you often find unusual pigmentation in any plant that has to cope with a tough environment - too hot, too cold, too bright, too shaded; all of these problems and more can give rise to unusual leaf colourations. In the case you cite of "...dark red emergent leaves which later (usually) turn green..." I suspect the plant is using the extra pigments for two intertwined purposes: firstly, to provide extra energy to the leaf during growth since growth requires more energy than simple maintenance of existing tissues, and secondly, to bridge an energy gap which exists while the leaf is developing its permanent consignment of energy producing chloroplasts - once these are present in full the leaf will be green and the plant may even recirculate the other pigments for reuse in the next new leaf to appear - a win win for the plant all around!
The actual details of the processes get quite technical, but there are a couple of reasonably readable references
here: http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookPS.html and here http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e24/3.htm and some more follow up stuff here http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=chlorophyll+absorbtion+spectrum&btnG=Search&meta=
Ciao, KK.
I read a long time ago that many rainforest plants that grow in deep shade on the forest floor have leaves that have green tops and red/maroon undersides, and that the red undersides have special cells in them that catch what is called "green light". Green light is the extremely weak filtered light that makes it through the canopy and all the layers to the forest floor and when it bounces back off the ground, the cells in the red leaf undersides catch these photons and utilize them. Pretty cool.
Thanks, I knew there was a simple answer ;O)
Kaelkitty, thanks and also for the links.
You Da Bomb too!
Yes, Goth, I quite agree. I have always considered LariAnn
the absolute stuff!
We are fortunate here.
(((blushing)))
Well you should blush. You're cool, and impart your formidible knowledge in a nice not condescending way. And you don't drop names. All in all, you're Da Bomb.
Just have to ask....what is the plant?
Hap
We had better watch it guys - if we gets too many bombs in this forum it might explode! LOL!
It's close enough to the 4th!!! We will just celebrate early!!!! I agree that you are all the greatest!!!!!
It IS the 4Th here! 10:04 AM as I type this - I should be out in the garden, but it is cold and soggy (winter here) with dripping plants, so I am spending my morning kibbitzing on the computer with a nice warm purring cat for company!
Sorry I forgot the time frame, KK!!!! Happy 4th of July!!!!
Kaelkitty,
Check the happy birthday list - see who's there.
If it's somebody's birthday..........Have a happy one!
Kaelkitty, how cold could it be?
It's not the cold so much it's the wet! We are having a real Adelaide winter for a change, I had forgotten what they were like after being in drought so long - they said on the morning news that our local water storages are up to 58% capacity which is back up to target for the first time in a long time. See this link for background http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1903154.htm Here is a link to the water restrictions we are currently living under : http://www.sawater.com.au/SAWater/Environment/WaterRestrictionsConservationMeasures/level3_indetail.htm.
Personally, most of the restrictions don't bug me - they strike me as sensible behaviour - pity we have to legislate to get people to stop wasting water by using it to wash off their driveways etc. I have an exemption permit though, because I can't stand up long enough to water everything at once so I have to do it in short stints which means I can't finish before 8am OR stumble around in the dark after 8 pm either!
Anyway back to the topic of wet, and weather in general. It has been a bit wacky here lately - check this out: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25711508-5006301,00.html The official weather readings say that we have had 46mm total in June and 24 mm so far in July which isn't much really, but it is all coming in big dumps of rain (mostly overnight) with a few sunny days in between each storm. Actually, I think I have had more rain here at my house than they are getting at the weather station. I left an open plastic bin out in the rain at the start of June and the water in the bin is now 150mm deep! It's probably not SO cold by US standards - our lowest overnight low in June was 3.5C/38F and our recent daytime maximum temperatures have been mostly about 15C/59F but it's still not the best weather to be outside in while trying to mix up soil and repot plants, especially since my outdoor working area has no protection from wind or rain. Some of the tropicals don't like it much either, but the Monsteria deliciosa and the Philodendrons are having a ball!
TTFN, KK.
PS "happy birthday list" ???
On the Dave's Garden home page, scroll down and look for it in a little box titled "Happy Birthday!" to the right side of the screen, below "Today's Article", "Voting Booth", etc.
Aha!
I had forgotten about that thing - I took it off my home page ages ago, because all I ever saw were people I didn't recognise - I should probably put it back - I think I'd see more names that I know now, LOL!
2 minutes later, nope no-one I recognise, my list has
hyer1972
audrebytes
teacup754
wacomac
rannveig
fancyvan
and that's it - no-one I know. Perhaps your list is for 3rd July and my list is for 4th July - I am not sure how they arrange these things at the server end. Remember this "To err is human, to really foul things up you need a computer!" LOL!
Ciao, KK.
PS: It has just gone Noon; the sun is shining AT LAST, Maybe I'll get a bit of dry concrete today to work on yet! I'll give it an hour and go out and have another look.
That list you have there is for 3rd July. I was thinking that if you were already into July 4, the list would have changed as well. Watch for the change to July 4 - then you'll understand. It's 11:18 PM July 3 here and the list is the same as yours.
Well, Happy 4th July to all those who celebrate it. Here it's already more than half way through the 4th, we had our Territory Day on the 1st July.
On plants and colour again, here's a fern I saw in the Papua New Guinea rainforest. You can see the juvenile leaf is red but the older ones are green.
This is a shoot coming out of the side of a tree, also in PNG.
(Is anyone else silly enough to forget the photo sometimes?)
This plant I really liked, was common in the 400 metre to under 1000 metre altitude range (PNG again). The top of the leaf is really beautiful, and underneath a spectacular burgundy red.
It was difficult trying to get a good photo of the underneath of the leaves. The red colour stays throughout the life of the leaf.
This is one in my garden, Garcinia warreni, a local rainforest tree. It gets morning sun until about midday.
