I find it to be very unusual.

If just one branch it could be a somatic mutation, but the problem is that most variegated accessions need to be propagated vegetatively and only the named variety Variegated, aka Variegata, comes true from seed.

So if I were you I'd take some cuttings from that branch and propgatethem vegetativly and then when you have fruits, save seeds from those and see if they come true from seed.

Have you grown Variegata in you garden in the past?

Is the plant you refer to from your saved seeds?

Carolyn

I have read (in daylily circles) that variegation can sometimes be caused by a splash of Roundup! What doesn't kill you makes you better (different?) (LOL).

Linda

Yes Linda, ROundup can cause changes in leaf color, you can see pictures for that in the link below.

But NOT on just one branch. ( smile)

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Roundup tomato leaf damage

Carolyn, thank you for your advices. I have never grown Variegata. However, the seed for this particular L. pimpinellifolium plant was not from my own saved seed, but from Totally Tomatoes (2013 catalog, page 34). Interestingly, Variegata is not in their print catalog though they do offer it online. I see Cherokee Purple in their print catalog, and apparently that variety occasionally shows some variegation. Of course, I don't know if they produce their own seed or what. At any rate, I shall do as you recommend. Thank you again.

Linda, no pesticides have ever come through my garden gate. I am a bit of a crackpot about that and grow ALL my own food according to the whims of Nature.

Richard

Richard, I was one of the first to grow Cherokee Purple when Craig introduced it in 1992 and I read and post at several sites and have never seen reference to it having variegated leaves. Could be I missed something?

With so many folks doing their own breeding now and so many unstable varieties being made available, who knows for sure.

There have been some pictures shown here at GW of supposed variegation which turned out to be bird droppings. LOL

Even the pictures I linked to of Roundup damage, above, don't look like typical variegation.

I have the TT catalog around here someplace, but I don't pay too much attention to it b'c there ae still lots of errors in terms of some variety descriptions, some of which they inherited when they bought TT from Wayne Hilton who originally developed TT. nd yes, I've tried to get some things changed, alas, I haven't been very successful.

Last I knew Totally Tomatoes did none of their own tomato seed production. I don't even know if they subcontrct out, which is another possibility, I know they buy some seed from SSE and probably wholesale from other places.

Carolyn

Carolyn, I googled Variegated Tomatoes and found a message and pictures at bambooweb.info from someone who found a Cherokee Purple with some variegation. Of course it may have been a one-time fluke. Don't know.

Richard

Richard, sadly I can't link to other message sites here, but I too did some googling and I did find that some have reported what they called varigation ofCP and there was a really great talk about how commercial growers of plants use growth retardents that can cause temporay variegation but that's temporary, not passed on.

Then I remembered that someone who got Green Zebra Cherry from a seed offer of mine also got some plants with variegation, and whatever it was saved seeds did not pass it on.so the conclusion was thatit was something environmental, perhaps herbicide drift.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn.