H. kikutii ‘Sakuya Hime’

Description

(from Hiroshi Abe in Japan) – (species mutation) – Small. We all know the distinctive many veined, narrow leaf shape of many of the forms of Hosta kikutii from their native habitats in Japan but this one is special. Its flowers have extra tepals, (petals if you would prefer), usually three extra, so nine total. It is “half-double”, semidouble? Sometimes it has 8 tepals and sometimes 10 but I have never seen it completely double. It may have trouble setting seed but the pollen should be very viable. Hybridizers will love to play with this little gem not only for the flower possibilities but also the classic H. kikutii foliage traits.