Variegated Monstera Deliciosa: Which one is which?

Naturally Variegated Monstera Deliciosa (White/Cream colour)

Monstera Deliciosa ‘wrinkle’

There is a lot of interest in variegated plants at the moment and one of the most talked about is the Variegated Monstera Deliciosa. This plant is covered mostly in one colour variegation, the cream/white and green plant but did you know that there are multiple colours of variegation, plus a sub species of plant and a tissue cultured Deliciosa as well? We will look into the three different plants and how easy they are to come by.

Monstera Deliciosa Borsigiana

Verdant Dwellings Borsigiana Albo Mother Plant

This is a sub species of the Monstera Deliciosa that has smaller leaves at maturity and is faster growing than a true Deliciosa. These plants also variegate more readily, the Monstera Deliciosa Borsigiana Variegata, and hold the variegation strongly when propagated. Due to the more relative ease of propagating this plant with variegation intact, this is a very popular way to get your hands on a Variegated Monstera.

“Naturally variegated true Monstera Deliciosa are not easy to come by.”

This plant is not sold as seed or tissue culture in Australia so you will mostly find it for sale on private growers or collectors pages. Due to the aerial roots on the Monstera, propagation is easier and therefore this relatively more easily accessible plant is very popular. The cost of the plant however is determined by the seller and how much buyers are willing to pay. They are still an expensive option and usually sold as a cutting, not a plant. 

The best way to tell if you have a true Deliciosa or if it is a Borsigiana is to check the top of the mature leaves. Where the stem meets the leaf, the true Deliciosa will have a wrinkle that the Borsigiana does not. Make sure you wait to check mature leaves however, as the immature leaves of the true Deliciosa have not yet developed this wrinkle.

Monstera Deliciosa ‘Thai Constellation’

Monstera Deliciosa Thai Constellation

Due to the popularity of the Variegated Monstera, it was no surprise when a genetically engineered, stable variegation plant, became available on the market. This plant is known as the Thai Constellation. This Deliciosa comes from genetic engineering from one lab in Thailand that, at the time of writing, supplies the plant worldwide. This means that limited plants are available and usually only one or two production nurseries in each country are able to buy a lab specified amount of the stock. Verdant Dwellings discovered the lab and initially due to the large financial outlay, had an inability to shoulder costs alone passed the information on to a Victorian grower. Verdant Dwellings was therefore initially able to have exclusive selling rights to the plants when they were of size for a period of time. This grower was the first major supplier of the plants Australia wide, a QLD Grower holds the contract as of 2021 for a period of time. It will likely then move State and Wholesale Grower again. The tiny plants arrive in bottles and are removed to be grown up to a strong stable plant before they are released into the retail market.

As the Thai Constellation is a genetically engineered tissue culture, it is stable variegation. This means that when the plants in Australia reach maturity, cuttings can be made, like the Borsigiana, that will maintain the ‘star like’ speckled variegation of the Thai. Like all variegated plants that hold the expression in their DNA, not their growing conditions, the Thai will also produce large chunks of variegation but the amount, and when, is only known to the plant. All Thai will display the speckled variegation regardless of this large chunk variegation however the amount varies from plant to plant. 

In the past year the Thai Constellation has become more accessible and many shops and nurseries, like Verdant Dwellings, sell the plant when available. The cost of each plant is reasonable compared with the Borsigiana and the True Seed Grown Deliciosa, making it a good option if you want to own a variegated Monstera Deliciosa plant.

Monstera Deliciosa Variegata

White/Cream Variegation

The true Monstera Deliciosa Variegata begins its life as a green seed. In Australia, commercial growers of the plant purchase large amounts of seed that are not available for public purchase. The seed planting process is time sensitive therefore there is a specific time the seeds arrive to growers and they must be sown for growth within a small time window. The seeds germinate and a green Deliciosa plant begins to grow, however, sometimes things go wrong and the genetics of the plant mutate. This is how a Monstera Deliciosa becomes a Monstera Deliciosa Variegata. This is not a common occurrence and therefore, naturally variegated true Monstera Deliciosa are not easy to come by. What’s more, this natural variegation can occur in three different colours, light green, yellow and white/cream.

Light Green Variegation

Yellow Variegation

There is no way of knowing if any of the plants in a batch of green seeds will variegate, if they do what colour they will be, how strong that variegation is and if it will continue and increase in amount as the plant grows. As it is a true are rare occurrence, the Monstera Deliciosa Variegata is the hardest plant to come by. The most desired colour mutation is the white/cream colour and from experience, it has occurred in 35 plants over the past 3 years of over 180,000 seeds we have sown or seen sown and grown. Of these plants, 4 have had a large amount of white/cream variegation and not just speckles colour of a few leaves. What’s more 10 variegated plants, of various colours, were cut up to see if the variegation would continue in both the mother and the cutting. 7 of those 10 mother plants reverted to green. It is therefore rare to see a true Deliciosa Variegata cutting for sale as owners are not willing to take the risk. For this reason, these are the most expensive and hardest to find plants, and although Verdant Dwellings has sold them in the past, most are private growers selling an entire plant.

Verdant Dwellings sell the True Seed Grown Monstera Deliciosa in all three colours grown on-site from seed, the Thai Constellation and Monstera Borsigiana Albo Cuttings, all when available. It is unknown when naturally mutated Monstera Deliciosa will be available for sale in the future as only the plants know for sure. When we have plants, they are announced on our Socials when they go online for sale. Following our Socials is the best way to stay up to date!

Happy Growing!