Begonia maculata 'Snow Cap Variegated'

Begonia maculata 'Snow Cap Variegata' pushes the species' cream variegation to its practical limit: broad, heavy sectors of pure white creep in from the leaf margins over the classic silver-spotted green, leaving only a narrow core of photosynthetic tissue running along the midrib. The effect reads as a permanent dusting of snow across each angel-wing leaf, hence the name. Because so little chlorophyll-bearing tissue remains on the most heavily marked leaves, growth is slower and more light-hungry than the plain species or the lighter Albo Variegata form, and it is correspondingly harder to source and considerably more expensive. Deep red leaf undersides persist beneath the white sectoring.

Native range

Cultivated selection (derived from Begonia maculata, native to southeastern Brazil, Atlantic Forest)

Classification

Genus

Begonia

Family

Begoniaceae

Type

Variegated

Growth habit

Upright cane, bamboo-like

Form of

Begonia maculata

Morphology

Leaf shape

Asymmetrical, angel-wing / oblique-ovateEgg-shaped leaves, with the wider end near the base. with pointed tip

Leaf length

10-20 cm

Leaf width

5-9 cm

Petiole colour

Short, reddish

Venation

Visible along the remaining green core, obscured under white sectors

Texture

Thin, semi-glossy, deep red undersides

Variegation

Heavy irregular white/cream sectoring covering 40-60% of each blade, concentrated at leaf margins, over the base silver-spotted green, a chimericVariegation caused by a cell mutation. Often produces high contrast but can be unstable and revert to all-green. sport like AlboVariegation featuring stark white patches or sectors, which completely lack chlorophyll. Variegata but with a substantially higher, unstableVariegation that is prone to disappearing (reverting to solid green) if lighting conditions are poor or if not pruned. proportion of white sectoring; propagates true only from cuttings taken at a heavily-variegated node

Growth habit

Upright segmented bamboo-like canes