Both E. ‘Ember Lace’ and E. ‘Cleopatra’ are popular pink and green-leaved cultivars. E. ‘Ember Lace’ is not as widely grown as it once was, and is not seen as frequently as ‘Cleopatra’. It must be managed carefully to avoid reversion of the plant to an all-green form. Crowns and stolons without the variegation must be ruthlessly removed.
The feature plant above was exhibited at the 2013 convention of the Gesneriad Society. It is beautifully grown, with a nice balance of pink and green leaf portions. Note that there are no crowns without a portion of pink in the leaves.
‘Ember Lace’ was introduced in 1958, and is a sport of a seedling produced by an old hybrid E. ×wilsonii which is a cross of E. lilacina ‘Cuprea’ and E. cupreata.
One of the notable features of this cultivar are the pink flowers. They perfectly match and set off the foliage, unlike other pink-foliage cultivars like E. ‘Cleopatra’ which have bright red flowers.
Additional photos can be seen in a slideshow by clicking one of the links below:
