This non-registered
cultivar is a sport of
H. kikutii polyneuron
from Japan. It is a small size hosta with ovate leaves
about 4 inches long that are wavy at the edges. The
green foliage has a very narrow, irregular white
marginal variegation. Lavender flowers bloom from August
into September.
Mikiko Lockwood in an article on The Hosta Library titled,
A Little About Japanese Hosta Terms defines the term shirofukurin or shiro fukurin as white-edge(d) or
white-margin(ed) and the term yama as mountain.
An article by Dr Ralph (Herb) Benedict
in
The
Hosta Journal (1992 Vol. 23 No. 1) discusses three forms
of H. kikutii brought from
Japan in
the Minnesota garden of Hideko Gowen.
Herb wrote that " ...two H. kikutii plants, each with white
(cream in the spring) margins, were obtained from Watanabe Nursery...in 1988.
Both plants were labeled H. kikutii polyneuron 'Albomarginata'. 'Albomarginata'
is an invalid name. Furthermore, the two plants differ in many ways and came
from two different areas of Japan. I would suggest renaming these plants 'Shirofukurin'
(meaning white-edged) and the area where the plants were found (Shikoku or
Wakayama)...H. kikutii polyneuron 'Shirofukurin Wakayama' has leaves that are
four inches long and two and
one-half inches wide, with only five pairs of veins
and with a very narrow and irregular white margin. The petiole is equal in
length to the leaf blade. This is the smallest of the three plants....All three
of these plants have wavy leaves and variegated edges - they are jewels in any hosta lover's garden!"
We
went back and checked the original article and the name
was printed as H. 'Kifurkurin'.
Looking at
The Genus Hosta by Schmid (1991),
we found that this plant is actually H. 'Kifukurin'.
Mikiko Lockwood in an article on The Hosta Library titled,
A Little About Japanese Hosta Terms defines the term kifukurin or ki fukurin as yellow edge(d) or
yellow margin(ed).
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