A yellow or golden section emerges distinctly aureate, only to become progressively paler as the leaf hardens. Eventually, it may appear cream or almost white.
Pink can behave similarly. A new leaf may open visibly pink, only for that colour to soften as the leaf matures — sometimes becoming pale blush, cream, or nearly white.
We have observed both.
So what exactly might be changing?
It may be tempting to assume that these changes are simply physiological — something the plant naturally does as the leaf hardens.
But we cannot make that assumption from appearance alone.
Normal leaf development could be involved. Growing conditions could influence how colour develops or persists. Genetics could play a role. Several of these factors could also be interacting.
Throughout this exploration, then, we are describing what we have observed, not claiming to know what caused it.
Before exploring those possibilities, it helps to look at where some of these colours come from.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫
Much of the colour we see in foliage comes from several groups of plant pigments. There are others, but for this exploration we will focus on three: chlorophylls, carotenoids and anthocyanins.
Chlorophylls contribute green.
Carotenoids contribute colours ranging from yellow and gold through orange and, in some cases, red. They include carotenes and xanthophylls and can occur alongside chlorophyll in photosynthetic tissues.
Anthocyanins can contribute pink, red, purple and sometimes blue.
Leaves are not little paint palettes containing isolated colours.
For the colours discussed here, what we see can result from the presence, concentration and distribution of these pigments, their visual interaction, and the structure and optical properties of the leaf itself.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬?
As a newly emerged leaf expands and hardens, its appearance can continue to change.
Its tissues continue developing, chloroplasts mature, and pigment concentrations can shift. Some pigments may accumulate while others decline.
Anthocyanins provide an interesting documented example.
In some plants, scientific studies have observed anthocyanin concentrations declining as young leaves mature, accompanied by fading of juvenile red or pink coloration.
One study following three deciduous tree species found anthocyanin decline alongside chloroplast development, increasing chlorophyll and photosynthetic maturation.
This doesn't mean every pink leaf will fade.
It simply shows that developmental changes in pigmentation during leaf maturation have been documented.
𝐒𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐨?
This is where horticultural terminology becomes interesting.
We commonly use aurea to describe yellow or golden variegation and albo to describe white variegation.
Those words describe what we see. They don't necessarily explain why the colour is there.
Suppose an area emerges yellow.
We call it aurea.
Over the following weeks, that same area becomes progressively lighter until the hardened leaf appears creamy white.
Did one type of variegation actually become another?
Or did the visible colour of the same variegated tissue simply change?
The change could be part of normal development. Growing conditions could influence it. Genetics could play a role. Several factors could be contributing together.
Calling the hardened tissue “albo” may describe its appearance, but it doesn't necessarily tell us why it became white.
Perhaps this is where some of our horticultural terminology deserves a little more exploration.
𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
We have observed something similar with pink variegation.
A newly emerging leaf can display considerably stronger pink than it retains once fully hardened. Sometimes the change is subtle. Sometimes the pink becomes dramatically softer. Occasionally, an area that appeared distinctly pink when young eventually appears cream or almost white.
Published research tells us that anthocyanin concentrations can decline during leaf maturation in at least some plants.
But that does not establish that anthocyanin decline is responsible for what we are observing in any particular variegated plant — including Scindapsus and Alocasia, among the genera we observe in our own Grove.
For that, we would have to investigate further.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬
There is another part of our observations that deserves attention.
Sometimes the colour change isn't limited to one leaf.
We have observed plants where successive leaves repeatedly emerge aureate and then soften toward cream or white as they harden. We have seen a similar pattern with pink.
But we have also observed the opposite.
Some plants maintain their aureate colour after hardening and continue doing so across successive leaves. Some pink expressions similarly retain their colour.
When the same plant follows a similar progression across several leaves, we can document it as a recurring observation rather than something we happened to see once.
But repetition still doesn't tell us why.
Could genetics influence how that plant expresses and maintains colour?
Could growing conditions?
Could leaf development?
Could several factors be interacting?
And if we changed one growing condition, would the pattern remain?
We don't yet know.
What we can say is:
Some expressions repeatedly change as the leaves harden.
Others repeatedly maintain their colour.
Why those patterns differ is another question worth exploring.
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
Plants develop within an environment.
Light is particularly interesting because published research demonstrates that light conditions can influence pigment biosynthesis and accumulation, although responses vary considerably among plants.
That gives us several variables worth considering:
Photoperiod. Light intensity. Light spectrum. Temperature. Nutrition.
And potentially interactions among them.
We already have a familiar example of how strongly environment can affect foliage.
Move a plant grown indoors under relatively low light suddenly into intense direct sunlight and its shade-acclimated leaves can experience photoinhibition and photooxidative damage. Under sufficiently extreme conditions, chlorophyll bleaching can produce pale or whitish foliage.
This does not mean the colour changes we're exploring are forms of light damage.
It demonstrates a much simpler point:
A leaf can respond to its growing environment.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐔𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝
Photoperiod interests us because it is one of the conditions we can control and observe.
Could the number of hours of light and darkness influence how strongly certain pigments develop or persist?
Possibly.
Research has established relationships between light conditions and pigment regulation, including anthocyanin and carotenoid biosynthesis. Nutrition, temperature and other growing conditions could contribute as well. Genetics could influence how an individual plant responds to those conditions.
But there is one particularly important word here:
𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃.
Could photoperiod influence the colour we eventually see?
Could light intensity or spectrum?
Could temperature or nutrition?
Could genetics?
Could several factors be interacting?
𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬.
We can observe that a plant's colour changed and document the conditions under which it happened.
From those observations, we can form a hypothesis.
Determining what actually contributed to that change requires experimentation.
𝐓𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐮𝐭, 𝐖𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
We could try this ourselves.
Using comparable plants, we could change individual growing conditions — photoperiod, light intensity, spectrum, nutrition or temperature — while keeping other variables as consistent as possible.
Plants with already documented recurring patterns could be particularly interesting.
Does a plant that repeatedly emerges aureate and hardens cream continue doing so after a condition changes?
Does pink remain stronger under one condition?
Does photoperiod make any apparent difference?
Perhaps it doesn't.
That result would be useful too.
We could photograph successive leaves from emergence through hardening, document their conditions and compare the results.
From our own experiment, we might draw a conclusion.
But that conclusion would not necessarily be the final or correct explanation.
A single experiment can suggest a relationship. Repetition can tell us whether the result is reproducible. Testing additional plants and independent replication would strengthen the evidence further.
And the variables themselves may interact.
So confidently suggesting that a particular factor influences these colour changes would require repeated, controlled and preferably independently replicated experiments.
Even then, what occurs in one plant, cultivar, species or genus may not occur in another.
Our photographs can document visible change. Determining what actually happened to the pigments would require another level of investigation, including pigment analysis.
𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.
𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐩.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭
This brings us to another observation that helped prompt this exploration.
From time to time, we come across a plant described as aurea, while the variegation visible in a photograph appears to us more cream or white than yellow or golden.
And that makes us curious.
Was it more aureate when it emerged?
Did its colour change as it hardened?
Could growing conditions or genetics have played a role?
Is “aurea” describing the plant's established expression rather than the colour visible at that moment?
Could photography, lighting, white balance or even the screen we're viewing influence what we see?
From a photograph alone, we simply don't know.
That leaves an interesting question:
When we use a colour term such as aurea, are we describing what the plant is known to express, or what we see on that particular leaf at that particular stage?
Perhaps both uses have their place.
In our own Grove, where growing conditions are kept relatively consistent, we observe the plant before us and document what we see over time.
That is also why we sometimes attach our own observational expression name to an individual plant — always in quotation marks.
The name is not intended as a botanical or cultivar designation. It is simply our way of describing and documenting the particular variegation expression we observe in that plant at that time.
As the plant grows, that expression may develop, soften, intensify or change.
And we continue observing.
𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.
So rather than deciding from a photograph whether another plant has been labelled correctly or incorrectly, we would rather notice the difference and ask:
What happened between emergence and the leaf we are looking at now?
𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
When a yellow section hardens to creamy white, it's easy to ask:
“Why did the aurea turn albo?”
But that assumes aurea actually became albo.
Perhaps the better question is:
“Why did this variegated tissue change colour as the leaf matured?”
Was development involved?
Could genetics have influenced the expression?
Could growing conditions have influenced it?
Could several factors have interacted?
We don't know.
We have documented plant science that helps us understand what could be happening.
We have our own observations and recurring patterns.
And we can form hypotheses from them.
What we don't yet have is the experiment connecting those pieces.
Until then, the leaf can show us what happened.
It cannot, by itself, tell us why.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
Perhaps the most interesting part of variegation isn't simply the colour a leaf eventually becomes.
It's watching how it gets there.
The yellow that softens to cream.
The pink that becomes quieter.
The aurea that remains aurea.
The pink that remains pink.
The same progression repeating across successive leaves.
And the occasional leaf that doesn't seem to follow the pattern at all.
Names — aurea, albo, pink, cream — help us describe what we see.
But the name doesn't necessarily explain what is happening inside the leaf.
So when an aureate leaf hardens almost white, a pink section fades toward cream, or another plant maintains its colour leaf after leaf, perhaps we don't need to immediately decide why.
We can document it.
Compare it.
Watch the next leaf.
Change a variable when we have the opportunity.
And keep asking why.
Observation, experimentation and documentation have always been part of how we grow our plants at Variegated Greens.
We observe what happens in our own Grove, experiment with growing conditions, document the results, and gradually learn what seems to work for the plants we cultivate here.
But our Grove is only one growing environment.
Other growers have different lights, photoperiods, temperatures, substrates, nutrition and growing conditions — and their plants may not behave the same way ours do.
So we would also love to hear what others have observed in their own growing environments.
Have you watched aureate variegation repeatedly harden toward cream or white?
Have you seen it remain yellow through maturity and successive leaves?
What about pink? Does it persist, soften, or repeatedly fade as new leaves harden?
And under what conditions are you growing it?
Those observations don't establish cause on their own. But shared observations can give us more questions to explore, patterns to notice and perhaps ideas worth testing.
After all, an Exploration Scroll isn't meant to close the question.
It's an invitation to keep observing it together.
Because sometimes the most useful observation isn't the answer.
It's the question that makes us look at the next leaf a little more closely.
And perhaps all of this would be much easier if we could simply ask the plant what it's doing.
𝐈𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤.
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Our Exploration Scrolls are an invitation to observe, question and explore. We are growers and observers, not plant scientists. We enjoy observing the plants we cultivate, documenting what we see, and sharing those observations with others who may be curious too. Along the way, we explore relevant published research and distinguish documented plant science from our own observations, interpretations and hypotheses. These Scrolls are intended as a guide for further exploration, not as scientific conclusions. Where the evidence remains incomplete, we leave the question open.
Mother Nature provides the masterpieces. Variegated Greens simply showcases them.
Leaf by Leaf, a Living Mosaic.