This spring, one of our flats of Rohdea japonica seedlings turned up with an inordinate number of variegated seedlings. In a flat of approximately 1,000 seedlings, we typically expect 3 – 10 variegated offspring, when the parent plant has white streaking in the middle of the leaf (L2 layer).
All of the variegated seedlings were removed and potted individually last week…all 300 of them. It will be fascinating to see what unique forms result.
Tony posted that these are hybrids of Taishu, so wouldn’t we expect a higher percentage of variegation than the regular cultivar?
Yes, the centrally variegated varieties should produce a very high percentage of variegated offspring, but that’s never been the case prior to this year.