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A Primer on the Traits of Hosta Species by Bill Meyer Montanas come in two basic types such as those features seen in 'On Stage' and the type seen in 'Frosted Jade'. The first type is a very common weed in Japan and somewhat non-descript in its green form. Some think it as a parent of a no longer accepted species like Fortunei and Undulata. Vigor is perhaps its best trait. Flowering can also be a strong point with tightly-packed racemes and colored bracts. The second type (Macrophylla) is a prime contributor to large leaf sizes with high vein counts. Breeders like Olga Petrysyn use it in their programs for this reason mainly. Sieboldianas have very strong traits and are the source of two important traits----blue color and lutescence. Additionally they contribute good substance, rounded leaves, and rugosity. It's the second-most used species in hybridizing. Ventricosa has not been used too much in crosses because it is very difficult to use as a pod parent. The strongest trait it contributes is the typical bell-shaped flowers, but lately through the work of Mary Chastain, it is showing really dark greens. Longipes is a plant only coming into its own recently in hybridizing. It has an interesting collection of traits to contribute, including glaucous tops and white backs, highly glossy tops, very attractive flowering, pie-crusting, red petioles, and more. Sieboldii is the most-used species in hybridizing. It was the original source for variegation in hosta ('Beatrice') so it was used very extensively in the last thirty years. Positive traits include fast strong growth, high fertility and high seed/pod counts even several generations away, red petioles, and excellent compatibility with other species. Negative traits are also strong and include poor substance and poor wax finishes on the leaves. Hypoleuca adds some surprising traits. Large leaf size is the most interesting one, but others include attractive flowering, acceptance of blue and lutescent gold coloring, and white leaf backs, as well as strong vigor (strange as that seems). Kikutii mainly contributes its distinctive leaf shape and strong vein structure, but is also good for flowering. Negative would be slow growth. Pycnophylla has many good traits to add which are similar to longipes. Except for glossy waxes, the list of positive traits is similar: white backs, red petioles, piecrusting, acceptance of blue and lutescent gold coloring, good flowers. Negative would be slow growth (most of the time) and slow production of leaves/divisions, and a strong tendency toward medium size. Venusta's primary use is for small size, and it has little else going for it. Capitata can contribute colored bracts and satiny waxes, and is a very early bloomer. Nakaiana is good for vigor, small size, high numbers of leaves/divisions, and good fertility. Negative is that it tends to make plants look dull and ordinary. A good example would be 'Blue Cadet'. Yingeri and laevigata contribute similar traits. Good waxes in the shiny and satiny ranges, some good red coloring (tendency to fade early though), vigor and fertility in later generations. Negatives would be not accepting glaucous waxes, so blues are nearly impossible. Nigrescens can contribute upright plant form, red petioles, strongly upright scapes, and glaucous waxes. Negative would be slow growth and fertility problems in later generations. Plantaginea positives---fragrance, vigor and sun-resistance. Negatives----serious fertility problems (can be very difficult to build breeding lines), and difficulty with glaucous waxes. Leaf size is somewhat variable with most species and tends to work pretty much the way you’d expect. Extremely large or extremely small leaves tend to be hard to come by. Piecrusting does not seem to be species-related but good form in a piecrust leaf would require a strong vein structure. Variegation will come in one of two ways --- 1. using a streaked pod parent will produce up to 70% (even higher percentages have been reported) streaked seedlings, so this gives the best results, or 2. growing large numbers of seedlings from non-streaked parents will occasionally yield a streaked seedling (‘Dorothy Benedict’ was created this way), but this is unreliable. Streaking seems to behave the same way with all species with regards to passing the trait on to the next generation. Most species have yielded streaked forms by now. When trying to determine the species involved in a cross, relative bloom time can help, because crosses always bloom in-between the bloom times of their parents. Bloom dates can vary from year to year because of weather conditions, so they are best considered as periods defined by the species rather than calendar dates. For example, the first period would be sieboldiana, montana, and capitata bloom time, and the last would be longipes and kikutii bloom time. This is just a quick thumbnail sketch of the information that's there, and others could add to it from there own observations. It would take a small book to really give a clear picture of all that's involved. Because it's so complex, there are vast possibilities in terms of different-looking plants to come. This gives someone a basic idea, but breeding will accentuate some traits and isolate others. Mixing three and four species into a plant will probably also make for some unusual results. Bloom time is very important in crossing, but not a solid barrier. Even this can be manipulated by starting plants early, or saving pollen from the past season. Fertility problems can cause a dead end as well, so more than one plant from a cross should be grown on. P.S. - The actual number of species is a frequent source of debate. DNA testing hopefully will resolve this. |