Hello, I'm from central Argentina. I was out for a walk and saw this plant, which looked very similar to many others in the area, but it stood out because of its white leaves and purple stems. I'd like to ask for help identifying this plant and why it's so different from the more common ones. Thank you very much!
by Severlox
4 Comments
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Looks like a variegated ivy to me. But I don’t have much experience with them, so it may be something else.
Look into variegation. The purple stems are probably from too much light or something, I believe they are stress colours.
hedera algeriensis gloire de marengo, I have seen this happen where leaves are all white and slowly get a green patch in the middle but I can’t tell you why.
I think it’s variegated ivy. Variegated plants tend to be chimeras, which means that the plant has two or more cell types with different genetic makeup in its tissue. In this case one cell type produces normal green parts, other type chlorophylless white portions.
When plant grows, sometimes other type turns dominant. In this case, white has replaced green in some leaves. From whole plant’s perspective it’s negative change as white leaves lack chlorophyll and thus can’t photosynthesize. So, full white leaves are essentially parasites as they consume energy without producing any.