Hi sdandy,yes i have read the article and heard a lecture on this 'principle' now i dont doubt that that may occur,but i am sceptical as i have had those lines appear on Neo.hybrids but only from the tip of leaf to about halfway to the centre of the plant but not any where near the centre and there are thousands of Nea's that never do it so is this than selective damage,or only some plants do it,and i have had it on some only on the older lower leaves ,for me if thats the principle involved (damage)than would not all suffer that way ? I will keep an open mind for the sake of others,its easily tested at home, me personally ? i doubt it very much .but thats just me . Jack

Andy - however those horizontal lines are formed, and I have no idea why so, they sure look good!

K

Yeah Kerry, it does make a nice pattern, especially with the ridges. I would tend to buy into the evaporation theory. These follow the ridges as the water does. As for why it would appear on either the tips or on the bases of the leaves, it could very easily be seasonal or only under certain conditions. I'm definitely going to watch to see how things develop. Maybe I'll see something that does or doesn't make more lines. It'll keep me staring at this, my only alc until I get some of the other beauties in the genus.

Hi Andy,

Those patterns are really attractive. It's interesting that you are getting them in summer? I get similar patterns on my Alc. imperialis rubra as it heads into winter, although in that plant they tend to get obscured by more overall red colouring as the winter progresses.

I just love the way that you can look at the plant every few days and find completely new and unique bits of pattern that have formed as the leaves grow out from the centre. So much fun.

Cheers, Paul