By Lori
Ontario,
Canada 
hello GoY plantsmen/ladies! I've never seen albinism in a plant before and was stunned to find this among my Asclepias which I planted last fall for the monarch butterflies. the following is lifted from Wikipedia... but I'm asking this question to see if anyone has had a similar find. "
In plants, albinism is characterised by partial or complete loss of chlorophyll pigments and incomplete differentiation of chloroplast membranes. Albinism in plants interferes with photosynthesis, which can reduce survivability.[4] Some plant variations may have white flowers or other parts. However, these plants are not totally devoid of chlorophyll. Terms associated with this phenomenon are "hypochromia" and "albiflora".[5]"
the flower buds on the plant are withered and look very weak...I was wondering how it could survive at all without chlorophyll?
On plant
Asclepias syriaca
14 Jul, 2017
Answers
Albinism is more common than people think . In fact, variegated plants wouldn't exist without it, and neither would "Star Cactus".
Speaking of which, fully albino shoots or seedlings cannot make food, since the green chlorophyll is the plant's "solar battery", and must be grafted onto a green plant to survive.
15 Jul, 2017
every white flower is a form of albinism so not rare at all. they are in fact colourless and all the white light is reflected back into our eye and that is why we see white.
15 Jul, 2017
Thank you, all, for responding to my question.
I was thinking that perhaps it shared a root system as part of a biome but on closer inspection of the plant it looks like the main stem is green...so could it be a chimera?
15 Jul, 2017
More likely a bud sport, though sometimes a virus can cause it. With virus, it is usually splotches and/or stripes over the entire plant, though.
16 Jul, 2017
Related photos
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Diohio
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Lori
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Diohio
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Gosh ! I had a shrub once, that grew a shoot like that. I didn't realise it was albinism. I cut it off to try and root it but it died.
14 Jul, 2017