Variegation & Breeding for Variegation in Clivia m.

Variegation in clivia can be white, light green, yellow or a variation of these. The area of variegation has a differing density of chlorophyll than the normal leaf area, or absence of chlorophyll in the affected area. This is a defect in the production of the green photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll). If a seed inherits only the defective form of chloroplasts from the pod parent there will be no chlorophyll produced in the seedling, causing it to be an albino and surely spelling its demise. Further it is believed that if a seed comes from the part of the berry that is entirely white and has no green or part of a green stripe across the area covering the seed, you can be pretty sure that seedling will be albino and doomed. It is for this reason that many people raising variegated Clivia wish to purchase the whole berry, so they are not getting only the seed with all defective chloroplasts.

It is believed that inheritance of variegation is, in almost all cases maternal, since the affected chloroplasts are not transmitted through pollen grains of the pollen parent. Variegation is inherited through the ovules of the pod parent, so use your variegated pod parent to produce seedlings prone to be variegated if that is your goal. The pollen parent should just be used to bring other desirable characteristics to the future plants.

©2003 American Clivia Society