Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves, and sometimes the stems, of plants. This may be due to a number of causes. Some variegation is attractive and ornamental, and gardeners tend to preserve these. In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ... In common parlance, a stem is any elongated, usually narrow, extension or supporting structure of an object. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern...

The term is also sometimes used to refer to colour zonation in flowers. Wildflowers Flower (Latin flos, floris; French fleur), a term popularly used for the bloom or blossom of a plant, is the reproductive structure of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). ...

Chimeral variegation

Plants bearing such variegation are chimeras, with more than one type of genetic makeup in their tissues. A lack of chlorophyll producing tissue in some tissues causes variegation with white or yellow coloured zones on the leaf, contrasting with the usual green tissue. It is due to some of the plant’s meristematic tissue losing the ability to produce chloroplasts, so that the tissue it produces is no longer green. Chimeras in botany are single organisms composed of two genetically different types of tissue. ... Chlorophyll is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. ... Meristem is a type of embryonic tissue in plants consisting of unspecialized, youthful cells called meristematic cells and found in areas of the plant where growth is or will take place - the roots and shoots. ... The inside of a chloroplast Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and eukaryotic algae which conduct photosynthesis. ...

There are several types of such variegation, depending on the tissues that have been affected. The variegation in some forms is unstable. The extent and nature of the variegation can vary, and sometimes the plant will return to the green form. In others it is stable and does not change under normal conditions.

Because the variegation is due to the presence of two kinds of plant tissue, propagating the plant must be by a vegetative method of propagation that preserves both types of tissue in relation to each other.

As these plants have some of their tissue unable to carry out photosynthesis, the plant will be weaker than the plain green plant. They should generally be expected to die out in nature. Leaf. ...

Variegation due to reflective effects

Some variegation is due to visual effects due to reflection of light from the leaf surface. This can happen when an air layer is located just under the epidermis resulting in a white or silvery reflection. It is sometimes called blister variegation. Pilea (aluminum plant) is an example of a house plant that shows this effect. Cyclamen hederifolium leaves show such patterned variegation, varying between plants, but consistent within each plant. The word reflection (also spelt reflexion in British English) can refer to several different concepts: In mathematics, reflection is the transformation of a space. ... Epidermis could refer to: In plants, the outermost layer of cells covering the leaves and young parts of a plant, see plant dermal tissue system. ...

Another type of reflective variegation is caused by hairs on parts of the leaf, which may be coloured differently from the leaf. This is found in various Begonia species and garden hybrids. Species About 900 species; see text Begonia is a large genus of suculent herbs or undershrubs in the family Begoniaceae, with about 900 species in tropical moist climates, in South and Central America, Africa and southern Asia. ...

Sometimes venal variegation occurs – the veins of the leaf are picked out in white or yellow. This is due to lack of green tissue above the veins. It can be seen in some aroids.

The milk thistle, Silybum marianum is a plant in which another type of venal variegation occurs, but in this case it is due to a blister variegation occurring along the veins. Milk Thistle is a plant, Silybum marianus of the family Compositaea is a fairly typical Thistle, red to purple flowers, it has shiny pale green leaves with white veins. ...

Variegation caused by other pigments

A common cause of variegation is the masking of green pigment by other pigments, such as anthocyanins. This often extends to the whole leaf, causing it to be reddish or purplish. On some plants however, consistent zonal markings occur; such as on some clovers, bromeliads, certain Pelargonium and Oxalis species. On others, such as the common Coleus, the variegation can vary widely within a population. In biology, pigment is any material resulting in color in plant or animal cells which is the result of selective absorption. ... Plants with abnormally high anthocyanin quantities are popular as ornamental plants - here, a selected purple-leaf cultivar of European Beech Anthocyanin (Etymology: greek. ...

Pathological variegation

Virus infections may cause patterning to appear on the leaf surface. The patterning is often characteristic of the infection. Examples are the mosaic viruses, which produce a mosaic type effect on the leaf surface. While these diseases are usually serious enough that the gardener would not grow affected plants, there are a few affected plants that are grown for ornament; e.g. some variegated Abutilon varieties. A virus is a microscopic parasite that infects cells in biological organisms. ...

Nutrient deficiency symptoms may cause a temporary or variable yellowing in specific zones on the leaf. Iron and magnesium deficiencies are common causes of this. Nutrients and the body A nutrient is any element or compound necessary for or contributing to an organisms metabolism, growth, or other functioning. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... General Name, Symbol, Number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 24. ...

Position-effect variegation

The heritable suppression of genes that results from their abnormal translocation to a position close to heterochromatin. Heterochromatin is a type of chromatin (the chromosomal material) that is darkly staining and tightly packaged or coiled throughout the cell cycle and that is, for the most part, genetically inactive. ...