Aucuba japonica

The golden variegation patterns are inherited from the mother plant. If the female plant is variegated, the seedlings will be variegated regardless of what the male looks like. If the female plant is green and male is variegated, the seedlings will be green. This indicates that the cause of variegation is not under the control of the DNA of the nucleus, but probably under the control of the chloroplasts where photosynthesis occurs. Chloroplasts float in the cytoplasm of each cell and are inherited from the female parent.

History

Aucuba japonica was introduced into England in 1783 by Philip Miller's pupil John Graeffer, at first as a plant for a heated greenhouse. It became widely cultivated as the "gold plant" by 19th-century gardeners. The plants being grown were female, and it was a purpose of Robert Fortune's botanizing trip to newly opened Japan in 1861 to locate a male. It was located in the garden of Dr. Hall, resident at Yokohama, and sent to the nursery of Standish & Noble at Bagshot, Surrey. The firm's mother plant was fertilized and displayed, covered with red berries, at Kensington in 1864, creating a sensation that climaxed in 1891 with the statement from the Royal Horticultural Society's secretary, the Rev. W. Wilkes, "You can hardly have too much of it". A reaction to its ubiquitous presence set in after World War II.