Aeonium 'Big Bang'

[edds]

Rosette close up

PXL_20210712_184741824.jpg (252.65 KiB) Viewed 2863 times

The plant grows in similar fashion to 'Zwartkop', its presumed parent.

[Viegener]

'Big Bang' came to me listed as a variegated 'Blushing Beauty.'

[edds]

'Big Bang' came to me listed as a variegated 'Blushing Beauty.'

This is a different clone to the one pictures above. The streaked variegation seems to have been induced in a large number of different forms. I currently have the Big Bang clone pictures above and 'Big Bang Plus' and 'Big Bang Rose' (a streaked mutation from Madeira Rose/Halloween). I think the original is a streaked Zwarktop.

[Viegener]

Yes, the leaf tips are different though the streaking is much the same. I suspect that all of these clones have mixed up names, or that often two clones will have the same name, etc...

[edds]

I think they are treating a range of existing cultivars with colchicine or similar to generate the new variegations and what is happening is that they are getting similar end results from different starting points.

So these need to be kept with their different given names until we know for sure that they originate from the same clone as they are as different from each other as Blushing Beauty is to Zwarktop.

[Viegener]

Intersting, possibly so, though colchicine usually only causes polyploidy, doubling, tripling, etc, the chromosomes. I think they may be putting unvariegated cultivars into tissue culture, which is more likely to produce variegated results, though not often. But if you make hundreds of clones, some variegation is likely to occur. And clearly, there is a market for these new plants. This would explain how many differently named new cultivars are attributed to 'Blushing Beauty,' the Catlin hybrid. 'Zwartkop' is not my favorite cultivar because it makes such lanky, unbranched stalks. But of course it brought in all the red coloration to the genus.

Colchicine is super toxic & really shouldn't be used outside of a lab...

[edds]

Cochicine is also a mutagen as well as producing polyploidy but radiation and tissue culture have also been mooted as possible origins of all these faulty bizarre cultivars.

Whatever the cause though it is important not to mix and confuse these different, but very similar cultivars and I would keep yours labelled as 'Blushing Beauty Variegate' for now.

[Epiphyte]

my 2 big bangs produce heads with a continuum of patterns ranging from fully reverted, to subtle streaking (like Viegener's), to stark streaking (like edds'). a couple months ago i cut off all the heads except for the starkly streaking ones and gave them to a friend. my big bangs are already way past due for another major beheading.

ink painting might be even more variable. pink witch is perhaps a bit less variable.

super bang, medusa and peacock seem stable. their heads are as consistent as mardi gras.

then again i suppose there aren't any plants that are perfectly stable. every plant is capable of randomly producing a sport mutation.