Cristate, monstrose and variegated
Cactus and Succulents ... 2/2

from previous page

Variegated

All plants require chlorophyll to produce food to survive and grow. Chlorophyll is what makes a plant green.
Sometimes a plant will germinate from seed that lacks chlorophyll, it will die as it can not maintain itself by producing its food supply once the food supply in the seed is exhausted, therefore to survive it has to be grafted onto a green stock which provides the seedling with it's food and water to survive and grow.
Othertimes only part of the plant is variegated, so some of the plant is able to produce food in order to keep the whole plant alive. In cases like this the non-variegated part can overgrow the variegated part as it is more vigourous, or the non variegated part can be cut away and grafted onto a green stock.

Without the green chlorophyll the plant can be yellow, red, pink, white or any colours in between. Some of the most common examples are the Gymnocalycium mihanovichii cv. 'Hibotan' or "Ruby Ball" originally from Japan.

Links