Looks like reversion to type. Propagates from the green part should come out all green too. If it is reversion, which I've seen in golden privet and Wiegela, it will eventually take over the plant because non variegated plants are stronger growers.

Larry "Looks like reversion to type".

Yes, it's reversion. But why do we have this reversion? How often do Spider Plant have this reversion? Why do they have it? For example, may be this plant did not have a lot of light.

I'm guessing you could repot it, separating the green non-variegated section and potting it up in another pot. So it doesn't take over your variegated plant. Then you'll have two spiders. :)

Photo Synthesis, thank you for your comment. It's nice idea to separate them.

Also I'd like to know reason this reversion. We had 1 plant and suddenly we have another plant.

I have found this information

"Have you ever seen a green shoot growing
in a variegated plant and wondered what was up? Plants manufacture food
by using specialized cells called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are colored
green. The more chloroplasts a plant has and the more green it is the
more food and more robust a plant is likely to be. When a plant is bred
for variegation some of the chloroplast area of the leaves is removed
and the plant is not quite as stable or even robust. The plant can
sometimes strive to get back the chloroplasts and can revert to its
natural state of solid green leaves in an attempt to get more food
producing cells. This seems to be the case with the above variegated
hydrangea I found at the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Research
Station in Jackson Tennessee during this year's Summer Celebration. The
green branch sure stands out doesn't it? I'm not sure how the UT staff
handle this but in my garden when variegated plants revert I immediately
prune out those green limbs in order to maintain the variegation. Left
alone it is possible the plant will turn completely green as the green
limbs slowly overtake the variegated limbs.

This reversion is not
limited to hydrangeas. I've personally seen it on Japanese maples and
privet. Have you ever seen this type of reversion and what do you do to
deal with it if it shows in your garden?"

Sourse: http://tinaramsey.blogspot.com/2010/08/variegation-reversion-to-non.html

I have found this information:

"For the gardener, there are big practical differences between the two
sorts of variegation. Because the parts of leaves without chlorophyll
cannot photosynthesise, shoots with pigment variegation are less
vigorous than green ones. The mutation is often unstable, so you need to
be on the lookout for green (“reverted”) shoots and remove them before
they take over. Shoots on my variegated Euonymus japonicus revert all
the time."

Sourse: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/9526612/Variegation-is-the-spice-of-life.html

I have found this information;

"Variegated plants are generally selected from a sport, or mutation,
of a pure green plant. The variegated part is then propagated by
cuttings, grafting or division to retain its features. However, the
mutations within these plants are not always stable and can be prone to
‘reverting’ back to pure green shoots.

Virus infections can cause a form of variegation. Very few variegated plants can be
raised from seed as reversion is usually a growth disorder and not a
genetic one"

Sourse: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=273

And this is also very interesting:

"Unfortunately,
patterns mimicking variegation occasionally have a pathological
character. Various viral infections produce mosaic patterns or
streaking on leaves. Additionally, some nutrient deficiencies, such as
iron or magnesium, can cause patterning to appear on foliage. Finally,
insect infestation, lack of water or sunlight, or high temperatures may
result in yellowing leaves.
...
Reasons for reversions are still not well known. It may
be due to lighting, fluctuations in temperature, seasonality or other
factors. Sometimes it's simply another mutation within the leaf's cells
that causes the change from patterned foliage to solid green foliage.
Variegation is the result of absent or masked green pigment
(chlorophyll), which causes a reduction in photosynthesis.
Consequently, variegated plants are less vigorous than pure green
specimens. Therefore, the tendency for reversion can be perceived as a
survival strategy that allows the plant to return to a more successful
form".

Sourse: http://www.leevalley.com/en/newsletters/Gardening/1293/Article2.htm

The first point to understand is that the green pigment of leaves,
chlorophyll, is carried on a number of organelles, chloroplasts, within
the plant cell. These chloroplasts, which were originally derived from
free-living bacteria back in evolutionary time, have their own DNA,
which partly controls whether or not a chloroplast can make chlorophyll.

...

It is perhaps ironic that these
diseased individuals, which were traded for huge sums of money in the
17th century, were probably doomed to early demise!

Sourse: http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/+January+/520/

Your plants also aren't the typical curly type seen in the "curly Bonnie" cultivar.

is anyone familiar with what may cause this? Root weakness?

laticauda(OK - zone 7), it's not my plant.

I have a question.

I have read this:

"We move on to the commonest forms of variegation, in which the
variegation takes a fairly consistent repeated pattern from leaf to
leaf. To understand these, it is important to realise that plant tissues
are usually made up of three distinct layers which rarely if ever mix,
but remain distinct through the history of a plant individual. L1 forms
the epidermis alone, and usually lacks chlorophyll except in the
stomata. In leaves, L11 forms the outer mesophyll, and L111 forms the
inner mesophyll (and the pallisade). Here a bud initial is shown, with
the three independent layers coloured and labelled.

Therefore, if a chloroplast mutation occurs so that one of the
layers L11 or L111 lacks chloroplasts, the resulting white segments of
the leaf will form a distinct pattern. In the commonest (or at least
most easily detected) condition, where L11 lacks chloroplasts, the leaf
will form a white rim, because L111 (which has chloroplasts) does not
reach the edge of the leaf. This is shown in the following diagram.

Sourse: http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/+January+/520/

My question: Can we tell that Spider PLant "Bonnie" is a Green Spider Plant with mutation L-III? Can we tell that Spider PLant var. Vittatum is a Green Spider Plant with mutation L-III? Can we tell that Spider PLant var. Variegatum is a Green Spider Plant with mutation L-II?

Do you know the culture of this particular plant then? Is it possible that a dying curly plant put out a sprout from its crown that spawned from a cell that only contained green and not the variegated type you usually see? Due to...physical damage possibly rot?

The best description I've seen for variegation is on PATSP blog. But it didnt stick with me well enough to reiterate it here. And why bother when he has already done all the typing.

do you want me to try to find a link to that for you?

I hardly believe its reversion. It is temporary, probably a cultural issue, looks like more light is the solution

Rhamel

laticauda(OK - zone 7)

"Do
you know the culture of this particular plant then? Is it possible that
a dying curly plant put out a sprout from its crown that spawned from a
cell that only contained green and not the variegated type you usually
see? Due to...physical damage possibly rot?"

It's "Bonnie". Maybe you are right, I don't know. Maybe this is light.

"The best description I've seen for variegation is on PATSP blog. But
it didnt stick with me well enough to reiterate it here. And why bother
when he has already done all the typing.

do you want me to try to find a link to that for you?"

Thank you for this information, I will try to find some information about this myself. I will do it later.

If light was the issue surely all of it would be green.

Very often old leaves before the plant was moved retain their color and only newer leaves revert.

Rhamel

And we're sure someone isn't just playing a trick?

I've never propagated one of these ffrom spiderlings to adult, but it looks like maybe that is what this plant is?

Maybe the variegation/form is very unstable and doesn't carry on through the spawns.

Or....someone could be playing a trick on someone and put a green baby in there when no one was looking..

the green ones grow FAST.

Also, here's the link http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/02/teacher-sansevieria-trifasciata-part-ii.html?m=1

I think that this is not trick.

I hope that I can give new photo this plant later and we will see this is reversion or not (a temporary phenomenon).

This green plant will have more light and a better soil.

I am not sure if you saw, but I found the link to the page about variegation. It is in my last post.

Will you pull the green one out and grow it separately?

"Will you pull the green one out and grow it separately?"

It's not my plant but person, who has this plant, wrote to me she will grow them separately.

"I am not sure if you saw, but I found the link to the page about variegation. It is in my last post."

Thank you for this link. It's nice. I'm reading this.

Very interesting article on PATSP. I love that blog! Now I understand how variegation comes and goes. It doesn't explain reversion caused by lack of light though. Like in Dieffenbachias.

But I want to be honest. I have read it but I did not understand this. Maybe I know English not very good and I need to read this agin.

"Wheeeee! Are we having fun yet?

So let's get to the original question, then: why, with all this crazy layering going on, can you keep the variegation in a Sansevieria trifasciata
'Laurentii' when you're propagating by division of a rhizome, but not
when you're propagating from a leaf section? After all, there are yellow
and green cells to begin with in both cases: why can't they just stay
together?

The reason is,

[drumroll]

A plantlet from division
retains the same overall organization as the original growing tip: all
three layers of its cells will, at some point, resume growing and
dividing as though nothing had happened, and the descendants of green
cells will be green, and the descendants of yellow cells will be yellow.
There's nothing, of course, to completely rule out a new mutation
springing up at some point down the road, but mostly it's going to keep
going like it's been going already.

A plantlet from a leaf
cutting has all kinds of obstacles to get over at first, though. Like,
for one thing, it has to organize a new growing tip somewhere. First
step in that process? Turning a cell into the new growing tip.

Now,
I don't know how the cell decides which cell to start with, but there
are really only three things that could happen from this point.

1)
A layer I cell, in the yellow leaf edge, is selected as the new start
point. All three layers in the new plantlet are then going to be cloned
from this starting cell, and, consequently, all three layers in the new
plantlet are going to share the mutation which is preventing the cells
from producing chlorophyll. The new plant will have trouble making its
own energy, and will be limited by the amount that the original leaf
cutting can produce. When the original leaf cutting dies of old age, or
when the original cutting's ability to produce food is outpaced by the
demands from the new plantlet, which has got to happen sooner or later,
the whole shebang dies, and it all ends with no new plantlets.

2)
A layer II or III cell, which does not have the mutation preventing
chlorophyll production, is selected as the new start point. All
subsequent cells, in all layers, are descended from this one and are
therefore capable of producing chlorophyll. This means that all three
layers of cells will be green, and consequently the whole plant is
green.

3) The new shoot begins with any cell, and at just the
right moment, a mutation happens. A yellow cell gets the right reverse
mutation to enable chlorophyll production, and we have a new cultivar,
or a plant that would have been all-green gets chlorophyll production
knocked out in one of the founding cells and some part of the new plant
gets to be yellow, possibly resulting in a new cultivar. Either
situation is a huge long shot: if you did nothing but plant Sansevieria
leaf sections for the rest of your life, it's possible that you might
see such a mutation occur . . . aaaaaand it's possible that you
wouldn't. Or, I guess, technically one of your assistants would be the one to see it, not you, because you're not doing anything but planting leaf sections for the rest of your life. Like I said.

So
that's why the variegation doesn't continue from a leaf section: one
way the whole thing dies, one way it's all-green, and once every few
million times, there's a new mutation that saves the whole thing but
that's so rare that you'd be foolish to count on it."

Sourse: http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/02/teacher-sansevieria-trifasciata-part-ii.html?m=1

I want to sey that I did not understand why, with all this crazy layering going on, can you keep the variegation in a Sansevieria trifasciata
'Laurentii' when you're propagating by division of a rhizome, but not
when you're propagating from a leaf section?

Ok, we have a Sansevieria trifasciata
'Laurentii'and we're propagating from a leaf section. I did not understand why we can't have a new plant with yellow edge.For example, "A layer I cell, in the yellow leaf edge, is selected as the new start
point"

We can have 3 start points: one point is from layer 1, second point is from layer 2 and 3 point is from layer 3. And we will have plant with yellow edge.

I mean we have a leaf, the author writes that we need one point of growth. Why? We can have 3 points.

"The new shoot begins with any cell, and at just the
right moment, a mutation happens."

Ok, The new shoot begins with any cell. Ok, but we don't need new mutations. We already have mutation in layer 1. We need only X points. X1 are form layer 1. X2 are from layer 2. X3 are from layer 3. X=X1+ X2+ X3

And we will have a new plant with yellow edge without any problem. Maybe I don't understand something. Maybe any plant have only 1 point of growth. Ok, if so, I understand this.

--------------------

"Botanical chimeras are easier to believe. Generally, what happens is
that a cell in the developing tip of a plant mutates in such a way that
it can no longer produce chlorophyll or some other plant pigment, or it
still produces it but at a much slower rate, and then as the cells
continue to divide and reproduce, this leads to some large sections of
the plant which are a different color than the rest of the plant.1
There are three basic layers of cells in the developing growing tip,
which are whimsically called, from outside to inside: I, II, and III
(those wacky biologists!). Each of these give rise to different parts of
the developing leaf".

Ok we a leaf (Sansevieria Laurenti), and this leaf has a 3 types of cells, right?

I (1) type of cells is in layer 1

II (2) type of cells is in leayer 2

II (3) type of cells is in layer 3.

We have a leaf, and this leaf will have root and will grow, right?

How will this leaf grow?

This leaf will have one start point or a lot of points?

1. if one , I understand this idea.

2. if a lot, I don't.

But I don't understand next thing. Ok, let imagine that we will have green leaf (we're propagating from a leaf section) because start poin will be green and soon all leaf will be green.

But soon we will have a root and a rhizome, why rhizome can't "remember" about 3 layers (one layer with yellow edge)? I mean we will have green leaf but we will have a leaf with mutation in I layer (bottom of leaf). It's important that we will have green leaf but it's more important that we will have new leaves. Why will we have new leaves without mutation in layer I?

"why, with all this crazy layering going on, can you keep the variegation in a Sansevieria trifasciata
'Laurentii' when you're propagating by division of a rhizome, but not
when you're propagating from a leaf section?"

Ok, let imagine that we will have Sansevieria trifasciata Laurentii and we want to propogate it by devision of a rhizome.

And I also can tell that we will have only one start point (for example, from layer II or III) and our plant will be only green.

I will try to answer your questions, dert.

When you divide a whole pup off the rhizome (is this what you mean OR do you mean cut only the underground rhizome), this is a whole plant from the Laurentii parent that has all three layers already encoded I, II, III with yellow and green pattern (variegation).

However, when you propagate only by the leaf cutting, then only one cell will divide to create the new pup. This cell can come from layer I, II, or III.

If it is a layer cell that has no chlorophyll (yellow or white), then the pup will be all yellow (or white) and probably eventually die of starvation.

Alternatively, if you have a chlorophytic cell that begins the process, then that one cell will divide (replicate) and become an all green pup.

As for the rhizome, it should have a complete terminal growth bud that includes coding for all three layers of cells from the parent plant (variegated).

does this help?

laticauda,

You wrote "when you propagate only by the leaf cutting, then only one cell will divide to create the new pup".

Sansevieria is a plant with a lot of leaves, right?

Every leaf has 3 layers, right?

So every leaf must be from 3 cells, yes?

I
mean if every leaf has 3 types of cells (various cells with various
DNA) every leaf is from 3 different cells. If every leaf is from 1 cell
We will not have 3 types of cells (various cells with various DNA). How is it possible that rhizome will give new pup from 1 cell (1 DNA) and this pup (leaf) will have 3 types of cell later (3 DNA)?

The rhizome contains genetic information that will duplicate the parent plant.

when you take a leaf cutting, the whole reproductive process changes.

Just one cell from either I, II, or III will begin the rooting process but that one cell only contains the genetic material coding for whichever layer it comes from.

The rhizome contains all of the genetic information from the parent, instead of having to start from scratch at just one type of cell.

many African Violets are this way, chimeras. You can reproduce the plant only if you have a full crown (with all the genetic information, including the mutation) but if you take a leaf and try to propagate a new plant, it will not be true to the parent and will lose some of that genetic coding along the way.

The cells in the leaves are very simple. They are to do one thing, and one thing only.

Now, the cells in the dormant buds contain a different type of cell, one with much more potential than just a leaf cell.

imagine it as if the dormant buds are similar to human stem cells, they can grow into almost any type of organ or tissue.

Humans can't regenerate limbs (or bodies) so that example has to stop there lol.

But with starfish (sea stars!), they can grow a limb back, but if a limb is ripped off, unless it has part of that central core (body), then the arm cells don't have enough genetic information to create a new body.

The difference is the TYPE of cell used in starting the plant, whether it's a "stem cell" that holds information for the whole plant or just a leaf cell that is specialized and only holds the genetic information for its layer of leaf cells.

That's probably going to be really confusing. It was kind of all over the natural world lol. I love biology though, so I enjoy our conversations!

It is only the will to live in the leaf cutting that makes a cell turn into a root bud and form a new plant (whatever the color), this is not the natural way of reproduction. So a green cell can only form a green leaf, a yellow cell a yellow leaf.

1. We have mature Sansevieria Laurentii.

2. We want to propagate it

3. We are cutting one leaf

4. We pot this leaf in soil, our Sansevieria does not have roots. Our leaf does not have roots.

5. We are wating some months or 1 year.

6. We will have picture N5 or picture N6? Why?

And 2 question.

Let us suppose that we have a green Sansevieria trifasciata. It's not a S. trifasciata var. Laurentii. It's natural Sansevieria trifasciata.

We have mutation in layer N1. And we have one leaf with yellow edge (I mean we have mutation in layer N1 for one leaf). But other leaves are green. And rhizome does not have mutation.

Ok, I think that we will not have new pup with yellow edge.

1. We already have the roots and rhizome that produce only green leaves.

2. If we will have new roots and new rhizome we will have only green leaves because "Just one cell from either I, II, or III will begin the rooting process
but that one cell only contains the genetic material coding for
whichever layer it comes from".

So we will have new pup and they will be only green.

I think that we can make Larentii from Sansevieria trifasciata only if we will have mutation in rhizome (a place that encodes a layer I for leaves), is it true? In this case rhizome (with mutation) will make new pup with yellow edge because this rhizome has all three layers already encoded I, II, III with yellow and green pattern, right?

And 3 question.

If I propagate only by the leaf cutting (Laurentii) Will I have natural Sansevieria trifasciata?

I mean we have natural Sansevieria trifasciata (NST). For me natural Sansevieria trifasciata is a plant who live in Africa in nature or something else in nature (without human help).

We have Laurentii (LA).

We have green Laurentii. I mean I will propagate LA only by the leaf cutting and I will have new plant (LN)

Will we have the difference between NST and LN? Will we have the difference between LA nad LN (except yellow edge)?

I assume it reverts to its natural green form NST, as you put it.

All Laurentii cultivar is, is a mutation of the natural species. If the new plant does not have this mutation, then it is the NST, if I understand correctly.

I may be wrong, I am just hypothesizing/brainstorming.

Oh, this is only for the last post that says 3 questions. I have not read the post with the drawing yet. I am going to read it now.

Okay, I'm a little bit confused by that post, but I'm going to try to answer what I can.

PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I'VE MISUNDERSTOOD. :)

First, picture 5 would not happen from a leaf cutting. If the new plant that emerges from the leaf is not all green then that means the starting cell was from the yellow layer so the whole new plant will be yellow (and will probably die).

When the mutation spontaneously happens (the way laurentii was created), that plant that has variegation is removed from the mother plant because being variegated, the all-green leaves have an advantage and will out compete the variegated leaves.

I don't believe it is known whether this isolation of the mutation happened naturally or artificially. For some reason I imagine a pack (what's a group of swine called anyway?) herd (that's what it is, like mice?) of boars eating every single green leafed plant and the one with yellow "warning signs" were left alone, not eaten. I guess it could be any beast, but boars are so terribly destructive.

By artificially, I mean probably with a knife or other sharp implement and then putting it in its own pot.

This is all based on the assumption that it is indeed a spontaneous mutation as opposed to say...deleterious genes.

like, if it were a seed grown plant that got two copies of a recessive gene?

But your book says they know for certain that laurentii is a random mutation among vegetative growth and not from a sexually reproduced plant (from seed), right?

We had this plant: (3 Bonnie and one decide to be Green Spider Plant)

We will see this is reversion or not.

Wow, that Bonnie is bigger than it looked in the first picture! That baby green spider plant is so cute in its little pot! They grow fast!