[medit-plants] Re: Interesting variegated shrub

---

Hi Steve -

Good to hear from you!  I think Cindy is correct (Hi to you, Cindy as well!).  Looks like it is Coprosma repens 'Marble Queen', or was at some point.  The random spotting of this cultivar is not particularly stable.  The leaves with green in the center are reverting to a more stable form (green with variegated edges).

This is called chimeric variegation - Chimeras are mythological creatures made up of parts of different beasts.  This refers to different layers of the plant tissue having genetically mutated in some way, but not all, so it is a mix of different genetic tissue (in this case, without chlorophyll).  The instability comes from how plants grow - each new shoot has the potential to remix the tissues into a different arrangement.  I often look at variegated plants for such novelty and have found a few new variegated types on occasion.  The trick is to get them to stabilize enough for ease of propagation.  Some types are very stable, others are known for changeability.

Seán O.
https://seanaohara.wordpress.com/

On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 11:52 AM Cindy Courey <c*@gmail.com> wrote:

Or Coprosma repens variegata? 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 22, 2020, at 8:21 PM, Pamela K Peirce <p*@att.net> wrote:



I cannot view your photo. Will you please reduce its size? An image to send via email can be 72 DPI and about one MB would be fine. Hope you can resend it smaller, as I would like to see it.

Pam Peirce

On Monday, June 22, 2020, 10:57:36 AM PDT, Steven Vance <s*@gmail.com> wrote:

Came across this interesting shrub in a shady garden the other day. Curious as to what the plant might be but also why the leaf colorations vary in this manner? Is it related to the soil, shade, or other factors?

Steve