I propagated this violet from a leaf of a plain medium green violet. It is one that I bought at Lowes. Now this leaf is showing variegation in some of the leaves. Half of the leaves are med. green and the other half are lighter green. Does anyone know why this happens?
Eileen, That is a beautiful AV! I don't grow any AV's at the present time but a couple of years ago I bought a couple of small ones from an on line place (can't remember the name) because the pictures showed such pretty variegation ... anyway, I was disappointed when they arrived because the little plants were green, but the variegation showed up as they got older. I don't know why your green leaf plant would make a variegated one but there's a term I've heard on this forum called "sporting" ... maybe that's what happened? Hopefully some of the expert growers will be able to answer your question. Can't wait to see the bloom on that beautiful plant, please post another photo when it blooms! I keep clicking on your picture, it's such a pretty variegation, almost marbled looking!
Hi imadigger,
Spontaneous Variegation: Type of variegation on the leaves of African Violets which is unstable. Spontaneous variegation either appears only briefly or is incapable of being reproduced in propagation.
If the center leaves would grow out with variegation then maybe you would have something interesting that might be able to be continued.
From here, more info on violet variegation
http://72.41.11.187/varifs.pdf
Sport Mutations – Spontaneous
This is the least stable kind of variegation
found. It may be caused by virus or
by some defectives cells that will have
temporary impacts. It may be only
found on only new leaves or on only
one leaf out of the whole plant. The
plant may eventually return to its natural
green foliage or may continue to
exhibit variegation but it will be nearly
impossible to reproduce in subsequent
propagations. These plants are highly
unstable and may or may not be
impacted by high temperatures and
high nitrogen fertilizers.
Very interesting information Heidi.Thanks for posting,
Thank you GoldLeaf for the great explanation! I remembered awhile back someone talking about sporting but couldn't remember what it was all about. Interesting about the spontaneous variegation too, I had never heard of that.
DG sure is a learning garden! Even though I don't "retain" a lot in my old brain for very long, I am so grateful for the knowledgeable folks here!
GoldLeaf, thanks for the info. The article is excelent. I've printed it out for the future. Like Lin, my brain is an old one and 'some of the chips' don't retain info. LOL. This is still a baby, from a leaf struck in November. So it may be a while before it blooms. I can't wait to see what the flower looks like. The mama's flower was lavender pink. Three other leaves from same plant are medium green and show no variegation (yet).
I remember being ecstatic about an old variety trailing violet called Pixie Blue that started showing variegation. I so hoped it would be a stable sport. It wasn't. I even took several leaves that were variegated and they produced solid green babies. If nothing else, it was an interesting experience. The thing is, violets do sport and new traits come about that way.
Great resource GL! Thanks! That's a beautiful violet you have there Eileen. Please keep us posted on it's progress. Very interesting!
Eileen,
That's a beautiful plant! From the great info. Heidi gave us, I tend to think it's a sport mutation,especially by the patterns on the leaves.Please keep us all updated.
Lynn
If the center leaves start showing variegation, couldn't she snip out the center crown, and grow it on, while the original would also regrow its middle?
Isn't that what they do with a chimera?
Would that make this a chimera??
sorry, I'm new here, lol...
no if the flower has stripes it is a chimera ,and if the leaves are striped (see harmonys little stinker) its a chimera leaf, what she has is
a spontanus varigation,odds are it wont reproduce and may even revert back to its green glory,i have blue fly do that to me once,
i couldnt get it to reproduce
JIM
