Not sure what you are asking, but there are soi-dit white peonies, Festiva Maxima is sold as white. There are others, but as far as I can see they all have faint colouring other than white in them. Obviously they all have the typical yellow stamen.

Hi Owdboggy, thanks for answering. An albino, is a genetic things that can affect animals (and I think even humans). In essence it means that the animal is unable to produce any pigmentation/colour so for example rabbits will be white with red eyes. I don't know whether this thing can affect plants.

If you check the picture you will see that all leaves are green except for a small bunch of leaves which are yellowy-white .... its like they don't have any green colour ... otherwise they are completely healthy and have in fact produced a flower bud (which hasn't opened yet). This poeny plant flowered last year and all leaves were green. This is the first year that these yellowy-white leaves appeared.

The true albino gene only occurs in animals (I think only vertebrates, but I'm not sure about this), and blocks the production of melanin, which isn't found in plants, but, apparently, there are parallel gene abnormalities occurring that prevent, in much the same way, the production of chlorophyll. The problem is, if the whole plant is like this, the plant can't make food and should die. I think there is a whole wood of albino conifers somewhere in the States, though, which must look truly weird. There are always cases where a variegated plant will revert to normal green foliage, or a plant will suddenly produce a leaf with un-pigmented patches,but this isn't the same. It's fascinating, isn't it? I shall be very interested to know what it's like when it flowers and what colour they are.
Welcome to Goy, by the way!

Hi Gattina,
thanks for the reply. It is fascinating indeed .... the other lot I have to the left of the front garden have already opened but these ones are still dragging their "heels" LOL

I discovered the site today ... and maybe it wasn't such a good idea LOL ... I should be prepping coursework and timetables not daydreaming about the garden ... This gardening has really got me hooked though and whenever we visit national trust properties I feel so jealous of the gardeners LOL :D

PS: that albino conifers wood must be an amazing site ....

Oh Dear, don't fall into the Goy trap, GF, nearly everyone on here has a sad tale to tell of burned saucepans, ruined dinners, angry other halves, missed programmes....... I lost a whole batch of strawberry jam when I first joined. It's addictive. You wait. It's a bit like a confessional!

Oh dear ... I can see that happening ... "sadly" I am my own boss for most of the week, "working from home" and even more sadly, most of my work requires me to sit at a puter writing reports, lectures, marking assignments etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (as Yul Brynner said in the King and I)....... SIGH

Here's a link to an article about "albino-redwoods" or as they are apparently known "ghost trees" ....

http://www.newtimesslo.com/cover/7282/phantom-arboritions/

No picture of a whole wood though :(

Gotta go now ......

This is very intriguing - I wouldn't describe it as albino, which simply means an absence of colour, because these leaves are distinctly yellow. I'll be interested to know if the leaves develop normally and remain yellow over time, and are normal in every other respect. If that's the case, you may have a new and valuable plant on your hands...

Or one riddled with a virus!

Well, as I'm sure you know Owdboggy, the vast majority of variegated and yellow leaves plants came about from viral infection in the first place...

Oh dear I hope its not a virus Owdboggy!

Bamboo, I've added another 2 pictures that I took just now. I agree that they are more yellow than white, its the thing that always made me wonder if it was albinism.

I'm not sure how poeny propagate but the yellow one is a new separate shoot that broke through the ground surface in early March same as all the others - all the leaves on that particular stalk were yellow and then stayed yellow and grown as normal. The first photograph was taken in March. The other two taken just now. You will see from the third photo that when the bud opens it will almost certainly be as red as the others because the red of the petals is visible. Whatever it is that has affected it, is affecting only the green parts.

Maybe it is a virus that is affecting the chlorophyll production chain?

Would be well chuffed if its a new plant! But if it has divided underground since last season ... shouldn't it be identical to the parent plant it divided from? There would have been no pollination. I am positive I deadheaded them before they formed seed last year.

One or two possible explanations spring to mind - virus infection in part of the plant, or a response/reaction to environmental factors, or some genetic misinformation, a blip in the DNA chain, chimerism, who knows. Fact is, if that part of the plant grows, remains healthy and is attractive, whatever's caused it doesn't matter - if its attractive enough and vigorous enough, cultivating it and growing more might be interesting.
I note though, that the second, later picture makes the leaves look more thin and weak and very pale in colour rather than clear, bright yellow. Note also that viral infection in plants usually shows itself through yellow spotting or streaking, often with distorted growth. Viral infections were initially responsible for the introduction of yellow and variegated leafed plants in some cases, and plant doesn't necessarily die of a viral infection - it might look different, but carries on regardless.

Yes you are right. The yellow leaves are somewhat less thick and as they've grown become paler. Well, I decided to start a blog about it and I'll upload pics as it changes and see what happens.

I might leave it to seed and see if new plants from the seed are the same. Problem is if I leave it to be pollinated naturally it may well be pollinated from the others in which case if it is a weak phenotype it may not show in the new plants .... no harm in trying anyway I guess.

And obviously be interesting to see if it comes back next year ...

I get your point about the virus. After all a virus is just a protein bag full of DNA ... :)

Might need propagating vegetatively if you really wanted to grow more from that particular section...

Wierd! Just want to follow this and see what it is.

Cammomile, I've started a blog called "unusual poeny" and I'll update it as the plant changes. So you can follow it there ...
http://www.growsonyou.com/garden_fairy/blog/19876-unusual-poeny

Oh Goody! More photos! Just think of gorgeous parrot tulips, GF - all due to a virus and very highly prized. I shall follow your blog with great interest. That flower bud looks as if it could be a very interesting colour when it opens.
I noticed a similar thing with one of the leaves on our hazel bush this morning, and was going to take a photo of it but discovered that OH has been "Tidying up" and got to it with the secateurs before I got to it with the camera. Shame!

Ah that's a shame G! Yes the bud is really promising can't wait!