Portulacaria afra 'Variegata'
Portulacaria afra 'Variegata is a cream-and-green variegated cultivar of the elephant bush (Portulacaria afra), a soft-wooded South African succulent shrub. Its small rounded leaves are broadly margined and streaked with creamy white against a green centre, and in strong light the stems and leaf edges often flush a warm rose-pink — a display that has earned it the common names rainbow bush and variegated elephant bush. It is widely grown as an easy ornamental and as a popular subject for succulent bonsai.
Description
Like the parent species, P. afra 'Variegata' is a sprawling, semi-woody succulent with reddish-brown stems and pairs of small, fleshy, obovate leaves. The variegation is the defining trait: each leaf carries a green core with irregular cream to pale-yellow margins, and the proportion of white varies from leaf to leaf and plant to plant. New growth and sun-stressed foliage frequently take on pink to red tints along the edges.
Because the pale tissue lacks chlorophyll, the variegated form grows noticeably more slowly than the plain green species and stays more compact — one of the reasons it is prized for containers and bonsai. It rarely flowers in cultivation; when it does, the tiny pale-pink star-shaped flowers appear in small clusters, much as in the species.
Cultivation
Care follows the parent species, Portulacaria afra. Grow it in a very free-draining, mostly mineral mix, water thoroughly once the soil has dried, and keep it warm and frost-free through winter. See Watering and Repotting for general technique.
The one important difference is light. Variegated plants have less chlorophyll, so they benefit from bright, even light to keep the cream and pink colours vivid and the growth compact; in too much shade the leaves lean greener and the stems etiolate. At the same time the pale tissue scorches more easily than solid-green foliage, so introduce a plant to intense sun gradually. As with the species, it is naturally tolerant of hard pruning, which makes it well suited to shaping for bonsai.
Occasionally a shoot will revert to all-green; because green growth is more vigorous, these reverted stems should be pruned out promptly or they will gradually overtake the variegated growth. Very rarely a shoot appears with little or no green at all — such all-cream growth cannot sustain itself and will not survive on its own roots.
Propagation
The variegation is stable through vegetative propagation, so the cultivar is grown from stem cuttings rather than seed. Take a healthy cutting that carries a good balance of green and cream tissue — an all-cream cutting has no chlorophyll and will fail — let the cut end callus for a few days, then set it in a dry, gritty mix and water sparingly until it roots. See Propagation — cuttings for a full walkthrough.
Common problems
- Reversion — vigorous all-green shoots outcompete the variegated growth; prune them out as they appear.
- Scorch — the pale, chlorophyll-poor tissue sunburns more readily than green leaves; acclimatise to strong sun slowly.
- Rot — as with the species, overwatering or a slow-draining mix is the usual cause of collapse.
- Pests — mealybugs and the occasional spider mite are the main culprits; see Pests and diseases.
See also
- Portulacaria afra — the parent species
- Portulacaria — the genus overview
- Bonsai · Propagation — cuttings · Soil and potting mix · Watering