Variegated plants can/will revert back to all green if the light is too low.
Chlorophyll is necessary for photosynthesis, so the rest of the leaf must be exposed to more light to compensate for the non-green areas that cannot contribute to this life-sustaining process.

Billy Rae

I dont understand then, the parts that are white or cream, they can just go back to being normal....I thought varieagation was a type of mutation?

Tracy

Which plants are you asking about? I believe that some like Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurenti', rarely revert.

I cannot find a quick reference to this but I believe, I think, maybe, some cases of variagation may be a color layer over the chlorophyll layer.

Albert,

I believe that's not the case w/ Sans., rather just the opposite, that most Sans. WILL revert & that's why to get most regular Sans. to grow true, that one needs to grow them from divisions or pups, not leaf cuttings as they're known to revert.

I gave a Sans. talk in Feb. '05 & from the research I did while preparing for it, the couple of variegated Sans. which WILL reproduce true & are known NOT to revert were Bantel's Sensation & Lillian True (both green & white variegated Sans).

I grow variegates of numerous diff. kinds of plants & don't understand or agree w/ yr. last sentence abt layers & chlorophyll. From what I know of white variegation, it's not a color layer, rather it's the opposite, a lack of color. That's why when a branch goes all white (like on a varieg. Hoya or varieg. Ceropegia woodii which I have doing this right now), if the whole branch goes all white, if one separates it off the plant it'll die for lack of chlorophyll.

Tracy,

The explanation I've heard abt reverting is that yes, variegation is a genetic mutation & as such, it's less stable than the solid green, so if given the change, the more dominant, more stable green gene takes over.

I agree that one cannot propagate Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurenti' from cuttings and preserve the variegation. I was referring to the plant just setting there in a pot; I don't recall a variegated leaf reverting, perhaps it has been too long.

I went looking for any reference to the "layers" and I convinced myself I was mistaken about this, please disregard.

In my quest I did find reminders that virus will cause variegation but I did not recognize any of the plant names.

Sorry, I should have looked further, sooner, and then posted.

Variegation can be a type of mutation. Some variegations are caused by a nonharmful virus (Abutilon thompsonii is one, I believe).

Almost all variegated plants can revert to all green. Sometimes due to lack of light, sometimes just because (why? I have no idea). The all green part will be much more vigorous and eventually take over the plant, so if you want it to stay variegated, cut out any all green shoots as soon as you notice them.

I just had a variegated sedum put out a green shoot outdoors the other day.

I've often read that variegated African Violets should be in lower light, but in my experience this is just as has been said above in general--that they will have better variegation in good light. I have a variegated hoya that keeps putting out plain-green shoots, which I cut off and root and usually give away--have one in heavy bloom right now. It's just Hoya carnosa, but it's nice to have so much bloom. The variegated one doesn't grow much, and it occurs to me thinking about this thread that I should see if I can't give it more light.

I have a variegated rubber tree and a variegated african violet, right now they are in a North window, and they are doing beautifully, especially the AV's, I would love to try my Rubber tree in a south window but right now, I just dont have the window...lol.

Tracy