Hosta 'Kaleidochrome'
 

This cultivar is a streaked and mottled seedling of H. longipes x an unidentified hosta. It originated in Japan and was registered by Mark Zilis of Illinois in 2009 and re-registered with new data in 2018. The plant grows into a small size hosta about 10 inches in height with a spread of 22 inches and foliage that is green with large streakes of yellow and white.

Its leaves are shiny on top and slightly shiny beneath, slightly wavy and ovate with a rounded base. Pale lavender, tubular flowers bloom on scapes 16 inches tall from mid-July into August. It sets seeds but their viability was unknown at the time of registration.

The registration materials state: "...obtained as an Iwa Seedling; no originator or any other information supplied; original plant was a single division and fairly small, unusually streaked and mottled, yet in a stable configuration...obtained from a garden center in Kanuma City, Japan"

From the Field Guide to Hostas by Mark Zilis (2014), "...shows little resemblance to most common forms of H. longipes, possibly being a hybrid with another species...a rarity amongst streaked hostas as it stays streaked, even as it matures."

Mikiko Lockwood in an article on The Hosta Library titled, A Little About Japanese Hosta Terms defines the term iwa as rock, Iwa Gibōshi or H. longipes.



   

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