Viewing post #3034916 by Gina1960

This isn't traditional variegation. This form happens when pockets of air form between the outer cell membrane and the cell layer that houses the chloroplasts. The tissue then becomes reflective. This can take the form of extreme shine, usually with a silver look. It's common in some begonia hybrids, but can also occur as a spontaneous mutation.

I have a very old Anthurium besseae x magnificum that spontaneously developed blister variegation. It's a plant I bought c2005. It usually looks like this. Green leaves with prominent silver veins

But at some point, a vegetative propagation mutated and started making leaves that look like this






I decided to see if I could actually breed this trait into hybrids of my own making so I crossed this plant with other species (forgetii, magnificum, papillilaminum) and a complex hybrid (Mehani) and proved that this mutation can be hereditary, passed through the seeds








The best results were with the species crosses.
The results with the Mehani crosses yielded a hybrid with prominent white veins, but no silver (Mehani does not have white veins, it has this green veins)