Haworthia Red Sun Variegated

 Name and Characters: Red红 Sun太阳 Jade玉 Dew露 (Cooperi) Variegated锦

This is a relatively new variegated Haworthia that I recently acquired. As the name suggests, this cooperi/obtusa turns a bright red when stressed, and its leaves are quite round—resembling the shape of the sun. It stresses to orange and red fairly easily.

I’ve noticed that some variegated Haworthia species stress orange more readily, while others hardly do at all—Ice City variegated, for example, typically displays only yellow variegation. Variegation itself can appear in a wide range of colors, including white, yellow, pink, orange, and red. A common theory is that variegated plants lack green chlorophyll, leaving other accessory pigments to dominate and influence coloration. However, I’m unsure how sun stress specifically affects these remaining pigments.

I’d love to learn more about this process and how to selectively breed for certain types of variegation. Personally, I haven’t seen a non-variegated “Red Sun,” which leads me to think that Red Sun likely originates from a seed-grown variegated cooperi that stresses red easily. Feel free to share your thoughts—I’m always interested in learning more about this topic.