ZZ Plant Varieties: 15 Common, Rare and Variegated Types

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Are you obsessed with ZZ Plants and want to know what ZZ Plant Varieties exist out there? There are a handful of more commonly available ones, and new varieties are constantly cropping up, including variegated ZZ plants.

Keep reading to find out all about which ZZ Plants are commonly available, and which ones you’ll have a look a little harder to find, but one day may be more widespread!

ZZ PLANT VARIETIES

How many types of ZZ plant are there? There are more and more types that are cropping up and being patented.

At the time of writing this post, I found about 15 named and/or patented varieties, and there will surely be more as time goes on.

MORE COMMONLY AVAILABLE ZZ PLANTS

First off, here are the ZZ Plant varieties that you will be able to find commercially fairly easily. I’ll get into the other types later.

ZZ plants in general are tolerant of low light and can withstand long periods of drought. Perfect for the neglectful indoor gardener!

See the end of this post for more care and propagation resources for ZZ plants.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia Emerald Palm

Emerald Palm is considered to be the typical species and is not a cultivar. This is the ubiquitous ZZ plant that you see everywhere and is one of the easiest houseplants to care for, period.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Dowon‘

This is actually the popular ZZ Raven.

The cultivar name is ‘Dowon’ and the name Raven is a trademark name that is owned by Costa Farms.

Leaves are glossy and very dark. The new growth is a beautifully contrasting lime green color and it eventually darkens over time.

The U.S. Plant Patent #30035 was awarded on 12/25/18 to Hyuk Jin Lee of South Korea. The plant first appeared as a branch mutation in 2006 as his nursery in Seoul, South Korea.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Zenzi’

This is a miniature cultivar with curlier leaves and more dense foliage. It’s only 12-14 inches tall and is very compact. Great for smaller spaces!

VARIEGATED ZZ PLANTS

Although you may have seen some beautiful variegated ZZ cuttings and plants for sale, at the time of writing this post, only two cultivars have been patented.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘LUCKYWHIT‘

This cultivar has beautiful blotched and marbled leaflets that are yellowish green.

The U.S. Plant Patent #23614 was awarded on 5/21/13 to Edward Bruinen of the Netherlands who found it as a whole plant mutation in 2007.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Chameleon‘

This cultivar has gorgeous variegated yellow leaves. They start out bright yellow and then eventually becomes all green.

The U.S. Plant Patent #32253 was awarded on 9/29/20 to Michael Rimland of Miami, Florida who found a spontaneous mutation of this plant in Thailand.

OTHER NAMED CULTIVARS OF ZZ PLANTS

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Dark Zamicro’

This is a compact cultivar with small leaflets and almost black foliage.

It was awarded a U.S. Plant Patent #288847 on 1/2/18 to Adrianus Spruit in the Netherlands.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘EDZAMDARK1‘

This compact cultivar has darker green leaflets.

It has a U.S. Plant Patent #30529 that was awarded on 5/21/19 to Ed Buinen of Ed’s Plants in the Netherlands, who found it as a whole plant sport in 2012.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘HANSOTI13‘

This cultivar is more compact than ‘Zamicro’ and has shorter internodes and more leaflets per leaf.

Leaflets are up to 6cm long so they’re longer than the typical species, and are thicker and glossier as well.

The U.S. Plant Patent #26760 was awarded on 5/24/16 to Hashish Hansoti of India. It occurred as a sport of a variegated compact mutation that was found in Mumbai in 2009.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Heemzamio‘

The foliage on this beautiful cultivar appears almost black. It holds a U.S. Plant Patent #26262 that was awarded on 12/22/15 to Harold Heemskerk in Netherlands.

This cultivar first occurred as a sport of the species in 2012.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Lucky‘

This cultivar has rounded leaflets (versus pointy leaflets in the species). ‘Lucky’ was awarded a U.S. Plant Patent #23594 on 5/14/13 to Edward Bruinen of the Netherlands.

He found it as a whole plant mutation in 2003. The habit is shorter and more compact than the species.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Zamicro‘

Sometimes referred to as ‘Mini’. Similar to the standard species, this cultivar is shorter at 16 inches tall.

It holds U.S. Plant Patent #19314 and was awarded on 10/14/08 to Adrianus Spruit as a whole plant mutation that he found in 2002.

Leaflets are mostly flat and straight.

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Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘TVZAMBL1‘

This cultivar has a compact and upright habit and glossy leaflets that are almost black in color.

It was awarded a U.S. Plant Patent #33531 on 9/28/21 to Everton Gomes da Costa.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘EDZAM1701‘

This cultivar has a very upright growth habit, with plenty of foliage. The leaflets are light green and glossy and grow on very light green petioles.

This cultivar propagates successfully by leaf cuttings and has proved to be uniform and stable.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘EDZAM1702‘

This cultivar is very large, with an abundance of foliage. The leaflets are dark green and glossy and grow on long light green petioles.

Like ‘EDZAM1701’ it propagates successfully by leaf cuttings and has proved to be uniform and stable.

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘DUYZAM1801‘

This cultivar is relatively tall, and the dark green leaflets grow on long, light brown petioles. This cultivar propagates successfully by leaf cuttings and has proved to be uniform and stable.

ZZ PLANT RESOURCES

Here are some of my blog posts on ZZ Plant care and propagation that you may enjoy!

ZZ Plant Care

ZZ Plant Leaf Propagation

ZZ Raven Care

ZZ Zenzi Care

If you’re looking for an amazing potting mix that you can use straight out of the bag for your ZZ Plant, check out the Grassland Soil Blend from Oh Happy Plants. This is an amazing mix and you will get 10% off at checkout automatically if you use my link.

What ZZ plant varieties do you have in your collection? Comment below. I’d love to hear!