NOID

[Pieter]

I picked up a small Hosta at the Fall Plant Sale of one of the local gardening clubs, well actually I picked up 2, but this is the most puzzling one. The tag it came with said 'Hosta sp kyushu'. Of course I cannot find any reference to such specie, nor a cultivar by that name. I venture to say it is quite fertile, as the top of the small pot is just peppered with what look like seeds that are beginning to sprout, likely this year's, so that would make it an early bloomer. The scapes are almost dry, no pods on 'em, but there's them seedlings.The backs are on the shiny side.

[Mark Raw]

At first sight I would have gone for one of the Planagena types Honeybells or Royal Standard, but am just guessig on the size here may be a hypoleuca thats very white backed and maybe darker green in less sun. The flowers wil tell if theyr'e white and scented then its a Planagena

[viktoria]

Not H. plantaginea nor 'Royal Standard': leaf shape is wrong and vein count too low, methinks. Looks like lancifolia but I do not believe that one sets seed. Then again, the seed may have fallen from a nearby hosta?

Viktoria

[redcrx]

There is reference to a location in Japan called Kyushu. Maybe it was collected there?
http://www.hostalibrary.org/species/pdf ... mensis.pdf

[Pieter]

Thanks, Ed. Kyushu is one of the Japanese islands. tsushimensis comes from the island of Tsushima, to the west of Kyushu. For the time being I'm going to assume the Kyushu reference on the tag it came with to be valid as far as location goes. I'm making an effort to contact the donor of this plant and see if there is any further light they can throw on the origins and/or identity, or the colour of the flowers. The plant is on the small side, I'll measure the leaves later this morning.

[Mark Raw]

I did wonder a lancifolia myself but to me the leaves are the wrong shape and a completely different substance unless however it has been in some considerable amount of sun or as you say it has been a seedling from one of them,

[Pieter]

The leaves measure +- 3.5"x1.5", and I did slide it out of it's pot and put it with all the original medium still intertwined in the root ball into a new, larger pot. I'll worry about teasing out the old potting mix from between the roots once it has started to grow next year. I have little doubt it'll take next year's flowers to be able to zero in on the identity of this one.

Pieter

[Buckeye]

When you are repotting you may want to look for weevil grubs, as there has been feeding from adult black vine weevils on the foliage.

[Pieter]

Well, I have just spoken with the kind donor to the club table @ the plant sale where I purchased it. It is indeed from Japan, from the island of Kyushu, but was purchased from a small local nursery near Mount Ado (Lover's mountain?) and was presumed to be a specie. This is a seedling of it and other seedlings have produced both lavender and white flowers, so, I'll have to wait until next year to see which one this one is. The seedlings growing in the pot apparently are some small orchid, and he suggested leaving them until next year and transplant them once their tubers have grown a little. I keep going back to this quite possibly being a form of nakaiana, but a slightly more mature specimen would be in order before I'd make that call. So, next year, when it's in flower, will tell me more of the story.

Pieter

[redcrx]

What an amazing find! You go to buy a hosta and end up with an orchid also.

[viktoria]

H. nakaiana leaves are more rounded, not lanceolate.

Viktoria

[Roxanne]

It looks like lancifolia to me!
Rox

[Pieter]

Thanks, Rox, but 'Lancifolia' flowers much later than this one. 'Lancifolia's indicated flowering period is August/September. This plant was purchased 25th September with the scapes already dieing back, so it probably flowered June/July, too early to be 'Lancifolia'. I gather 'Lancifolia' is not fertile, I don't know if it sets pods though; this plant definitely sets pods, as I saw others on the sales table that had pods on them, I picked this one because it had the most shoots on it.

Undoubtedly this is another example of where the devil's in the details, and flowers in this case will be major details, so I think it won't be until summer 2012 before I'll come any closer. Thanks for trying you all!

Pieter

[Chris_W]

I have to wonder if it is simply an OP seedling/weedling from the sounds of things. Not sure that you will ever get a conclusive ID of it, but hopefully the flowers next summer will lead you a little closer to its parentage.

[Angel3K]

my lancifolia is still flowering, and the leaf size is small than that. my younger Royal Standard looks like it.