This picture was sent to me by my friend Keith who is a garden center manager in the Austin area.
This plant phenomenon, which can also happen in animals and people, is called chimera/chimaera. A chimera can occur when a mutation causes a group of cells to grow differently from the tissue around it.
Sometimes this mutation causes the plant to display a different phenotype (white flowers, instead of pink), and other times its visibly undetectable, but still genetically different.
A more common example of chimera is the vertical stripes on a Sansevieria (snake plant) leaf, whose striped area is genetically different from the unstriped portion.
This is why, if you've ever tried to propagate one by a leaf cutting, you'll notice the resulting plant won't have the same color pattern.
(Photo credit: Waylon Arms slideshow "Plant Propagation by Division and Separation")
#theplantchick #asktheplantchick #gardeningdemystified
This plant phenomenon, which can also happen in animals and people, is called chimera/chimaera. A chimera can occur when a mutation causes a group of cells to grow differently from the tissue around it.
Sometimes this mutation causes the plant to display a different phenotype (white flowers, instead of pink), and other times its visibly undetectable, but still genetically different.
A more common example of chimera is the vertical stripes on a Sansevieria (snake plant) leaf, whose striped area is genetically different from the unstriped portion.
This is why, if you've ever tried to propagate one by a leaf cutting, you'll notice the resulting plant won't have the same color pattern.
(Photo credit: Waylon Arms slideshow "Plant Propagation by Division and Separation")
Follow The Plant Chick on Facebook and Instagram for more gardening tips and pics from an experienced horticulturist and beekeeper.
You can subscribe to this blog by e-mail or by RSS feed for free.
Subscription options are below The Plant Chick logo near the top left side of the page.
(If you're on a mobile device, you may need to first go to the desktop version by using the link near the bottom of the blog.)
#theplantchick #asktheplantchick #gardeningdemystified
No comments:
Post a Comment