Also known as Buce Variegated Marble, Bucephalandra Green Wavy Marbled, Bucephalandra cf. pygmaea 'Marble Variegated', Bucephalandra sp. 'Marble Variegated'
Cultivated form (nursery selection from Green Wavy, no wild range)
Overview
Variegated Marble is sold as a stabilized line, but marbling in Buce is often unstable, and a plant may arrive with little pattern. Cut away any rhizome branch that puts out plain green leaves, because all-green growth is more vigorous and can crowd out the marbled leaves. Good full-spectrum LED light shows off the cream contrast, though the plant grows under low light too. Mount it on wood or rock with the rhizome exposed, and keep the water steady to limit melt. Split the rhizome with sharp scissors for new plants.
In the wild
Variegated Marble has no wild range, because it is a Green Wavy mutation kept going by growers. Buce Plant says the line took several years of propagation before the marbling held. Green Wavy itself is a farmed trade form from Borneo, with no published collection site. Wild Bucephalandra there anchor to stream rocks, sitting underwater at high water and in open air when levels fall.
Good to know
Variegated Marble is a sport, meaning a mutated shoot, of the Green Wavy Buce, an aroid in the family Araceae. The plant keeps Green Wavy's ruffled leaf and adds cream to pale yellow marbling over green. Wet Spot describes it as a chlorophyll mutation that causes sectoral variegation, so the pale patches carry little or no chlorophyll. Rainbow Marble is a different plant, with darker leaves mottled bronze and pink.
Did you know
Variegated Marble also sells as Green Wavy Marbled at Buce Plant and as Bucephalandra cf. pygmaea 'Marble Variegated' at Wet Spot. That cf. pygmaea label is a guess, since Wong and Boyce (2014) found no trade name accurately applied to B. pygmaea.
Low lightEpiphyte3.9 in (10 cm)
Low lightEpiphyte2.4 in (6 cm)