This cultivar of unidentified parentage is a large size (20
inches high) plant with moderately corrugated foliage that has a
heart shaped base. It produces funnel-shaped, pale lavender
flowers in late July into mid-August. It was registered in 1987 jointly by
The
American Hosta Society and
Dr. Nils Hylander of Sweden. According to
The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), this cultivar "...has become a non-entity in the
nursery trade. It can be thought of as the green-leaved version
of 'Fortunei
Aureomarginata'."
Nomenclature changes
recommended in the 1991 book
The Genus Hosta by
W. George Schmid and accepted by The American Hosta Society would update
names as follows: H. fortunei 'Obscura' is now H. 'Fortunei Obscura'
and H. fortunei 'Obscura Aureomarginata' would be H. 'Fortunei Aureomarginata'.
An article by Warren I. Pollock in
The
Hosta Journal (1985 Vol. 16) states that, "In a private
garden in Uppsala, Sweden, Hylander found a hosta that he named H. fortunei 'Obscura'...Hylander
didn't explain why he selected the name "obscura," but I would guess that it
refers to the hosta's obscure origin...In the same garden Hylander found a
handsome yellow-margined form...he named H. fortunei 'Obscura Marginata'...in
Europe, it is called H. fortunei 'Obscura Marginata' and also H. fortunei
'Aureo-marginata', although in Britain the names 'Yellow Edge' and 'Sprengeri'
have been used on occasion...In the U.S., this hosta goes under three names: H. fortunei 'Obscura Aureo-marginata', 'Aureo-marginata' and 'Golden (or Gold)
Crown'. I was told by one nursery that they sell the same hosta under any of
these names."
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