Hi Nev, another great question with explosive potential! Just wonderful!

In answer to your question "Could these plants be carrying the gene for the variegation and if so, if they were crossed with each other would a percentage of variegated plants result?", I would say probably not, BUT probably the only way to find out is to give it a try, so go for it!

Now, I don't claim any expertise at all in the genetics of variegation in Ae. 'Mend inverta', and that is quite possibly just how specific the situation could be - the genetics of just that particular variegation in just that particular clone. However, my "Probably not" answer is based on a bit of digging I did through the abstracts of a whole bunch of scientific references to variegation on the web a while back. I've been going to get around to posting a little summary of what I found for some time, so what better time but now! I'll try to control my urge to rabbit on.

....... but (quite some time later) I've still only managed to get half of my thoughts onto paper - not many words but a lot of wrestling - and I've just got to go and have some dinner! So, I'll try and finish it off tomorrow evening. In the meantime, hope you get some good info - must be a 'Mend' breeding expert out there somewhere. Then again, maybe you are going to be it!

Cheers, Paul

Qouted from an article by John Catlan 1997
"Aechmea 'Mend' (marginata). Cultivar of Aechmea lueddemanniana also Aechmea lueddemanniana 'Alverez' (variegata), Aechmea lueddemanniana 'Quadricolor' (variegata) are derived from this species. Aechmea 'Pinkie' (striata) is a seedling of Aechmea 'Mend'. You will find the seed of Aechlnea 'Mend' will produce a large percentage of variegated seedlings. All cultivars require adequate fertilizer or they languish in their pots"

Nev, the short answer is no. The reason is that variegation is not "genetic" in the usual sense, i.e. it has nothing to do with chromosomes or DNA. It is actually a defect in the plant's ability to produce chlorophyll in certain of its tissues. When those affected tissues arrange themselves in a pleasing fashion, it gives us a desirable cultivar.

When those albino tissues along with normal green tissues are both present in the plant's ovaries they can produce variegated seedlings where the two intersect. This is rarely the case with "standard" variegates or albomarginates, which tend to produce either plain green or totally albino seedlings, respectively. The color of the leaf margins seems to be a clue as to what is going on in the ovaries (not always, as I have found in my experiments, but generally speaking it can give you a fair indication). If the margins are all white (or at least lacking chlorophyll), odds are the seedlings will be too. If they're all green (or pigmented, without any albino tissue along the leaf edge) then the seedlings probably won't have any either.

That's why your Neos with the "wishy-washy" variegation (posted earlier) are so special! They can't make up their minds, and they pass their uncertainty on to junior, but it's not coded in their DNA. It's more like a congenital birth defect than genetics. At least that's my current understanding. Still learning and experimenting!

Hi all, Thanks for the feedback so far.

Minxie: Thanks for the info, but I had already read the article by John Catlin and to fill you in even further I will explain that when I first got the seed it was said to be from Ae. Lueddemanniana Mend forma Alvarez which was very confusing. (See post "What is the name Nov. 11 08)

Some time later we thought we had sorted out this confusion and came to the conclusion that judging by the pic. in the Photo Index of the Aust. Brom. Society the mother plant was in fact Ae.Mend (inverta).

Now it seems to me that the info. that John Catlin gave only applies to the Mend and not the Mend (inverta) as I have grown about 150 plants to 3/4 size and there's not a variegated one amongst them. (See post "Things ain't always as they seem" Mar. 1 09) The plants pictured were much smaller then but are a typical example of the foliage colours (they weren't all rotted)

Another thought just crossed my mind, what if I back crossed one of the seedlings to a plant from the original mother?

Al the best.Nev.

Hi Nev,

I've given up on my little "variegation info" piece. Lisa's explanation is too good - I'll stick with that!

After reading the John Catlan quote from minxie again - the bit where it says "You will find the seed of Aechmea 'Mend' will produce a large percentage of variegated seedlings", I've had a good look at the pup of the regular 'Mend' that I bought a few months ago.

And guess what. If you look at it from a few feet away, it just looks broadly albomarginated overlayed with pink. BUT, if you look up close and underneath the pink, there are some areas along the edges that are pure white, and some areas along the edges that have a narrow banding of pure green, AND lots and lots of areas along the edges with fine green streaks and fine white streaks and fine greenish-white streaks all mixed up.

In other words, based on Lisa's explanation, the normal 'Mend' looks like a perfect candidate to pass on variegation to lots of offspring, and this seems to be confirmed by the quote from Catlan saying that this is exactly what it does.

Unfortunately, this is not good news for your plant of 'Mend inverta' as far as the ability to produce variegated seedlings is concerned. According to Lisa's explanation, you need the seed parent to have areas along the edges of the leaves where there is a gradation between white and green if you are to get variegated seedlings. From looking at the pic of your mother plant, the leaves all have broad green edges, so the seedlings would all be green because the variegated trait simply would not be passed on at all.

This corresponds pretty much with your results from the selfing - ie no variegated seedlings. If the variegation in the parent had been a normal genetic trait, then a selfing should have given you lots of variegated seedlings, so this just goes to back up Lisa's explanation even more for these particular plants.

It also means that since the seedlings from the selfing don't have the variegated trait at all, and since the variegated parent can't pass its variegation onto a next generation of seedlings, then crossing the seedlings from the selfing back to the parent is probably not going to produce any variegated offspring.

Always unless, of course, you manage to get a new mutation that turns up in a seedling as it develops. Typically a long shot, but hey, ya never know - thats where all the rest have come from! Have some fun I reckon.

Hope this helps. Cheers, Paul

Hi everyone,
After I had posted my last message I had made up my mind not to waste anymore time on a very long shot.

Instead, I will concentrate on the Neo's using my Painted Lady sport where I reckon I have a far better chance of variegated plants.

Here endeth the lesson, all the best, Nev.