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Variegation is a condition in which light green, yellow, or white streaks or bands are found alternating with the normal green color of foliage. Variegation can occur in leaves of all plants. It is caused by a defect in the production of the green photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyl. The yellow or white bands are regions of leaf tissue where there is no chlorophyl.

Chlorophyl is produced in small particles called "chloroplasts" which are found within the cells of the leaf tissue. The chloroplasts are in the cytoplasm of the cells. Since they are not normally transmitted through pollen grains, inheritance of variegation is almost exclusively maternal, through the ovules in the pod parent.

If you want to breed for variegated leaves in clivias or in any other plants, you should always use the variegated plant as the pod parent or maternal parent. Pollen from variegated plants will behave similarly to pollen from non-variegated plants; i.e., pollen even from variegated plants does not transmit the variegation trait.

If a seed inherits exclusively the defective forms of chloroplasts from its maternal parent, there will be no chlorophyl at all in the seedling. This is known as albinism, and is always fatal to the seedling.

For a discussion of the classification system used by Japanese clivia growers for the various types of leaf variegation they have found, see the Variegation Classes page.