Is your Philodendron ‘Birkin’ losing its stripes and putting out bigger, all-green leaves? Your Birkin is showing you its true colours! But what’s it turning into? And can you get its stripes back?
Where did the Philodendron Birkin come from?
Philodendron ‘Birkin’ is not a wild species. It’s a man-made cultivated variety (a cultivar). The Birkin was created from a random genetic mutation (called a ‘sport’).
A Birkin is a chimeric variegated sport of a Philodendron ‘Rojo Congo’, also called a Red Congo (rojo is Spanish for red and said ‘roh-ho’).
Sports are often genetically unstable. Variegated sports can randomly produce solid green leaves or revert back to their original state entirely.
Chimeric variegation is when two more different cell layers grow together, producing the most unstable type of variegation. You might get stripes, patches, half-moon or even all white leaves.
That’s why your Birkin might put out half variegated, half green leaves, or full-green leaves, or even produce coppery-red leaves that later change colour to green.
Being chimeric means it can also go back to producing striped Birkin leaves, although once it starts to revert the Rojo Congo genes are pretty dominant.
The Rojo Congo has larger leaves than the Birkin. In the right conditions, new leaves start out coppery-red and change to dark green as they mature, with reddish-burgundy leaf stalks (petioles).
The Rojo Congo is also man-made. It’s a cultivated hybrid from a cross between a Philodendron ‘Imperial Red’ and Philodendron tatei.
What can you do if your Birken is reverting?
(and you DON’T want a Rojo Congo)
First, give it much brighter light asap, or add a grow light.
Next, chop off those all-green leaves to below where the first variegated leaf reverted and cross your fingers the next leaf comes out striped.
That will often push the plant to create a new, variegated branch from where it was cut.
Being an unstable mutation, sometimes no matter what you do a Birkin will just be determined to revert.
Congratulations, you’re now the proud owner of a Philodendron Rojo Congo!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anna is the owner of plant store Love That Leaf which specialises in products and advice for indoor plants. She is also the resident writer for NZ Gardener magazine on the topic of indoor plants. You'll see her houseplant care articles in magazines in-stores NZ-wide, and online on Stuff, The Post, NineHoney and more.