Re: H. xxxxx 'Aureomaculata'

Well Andrew,
          It's kinda like this: Marginata means that it has a margin. Therefore the plant you're describing is ventricosa 'Aureomarginata'. This is, of course, one of the great old hostas from the Early Days. Aureomaculata means "gold-centered, which is what that plant is. Ventricosa 'Aureomaculata' is viridescent, so it never acheived the acclaim that 'Aureomarginata' did. I couldn't resist correcting the corrector.
         No argument on George's book though. It really is that good. His new book on shade perennials went to the printer about a month ago, so it should be available soon. Something to look forward to. 
         Ventricosa has several interesting things said about it. Not only is it said to be tetraploid, but apomictic as well. The terminology here gets a little cloudy because when we talk about a species, you have to remember that we are talking about a number of individual seedlings from a wild population, that have not crossed with another species or hybrid. Therefore if a single individual plant is selected from the wild population because it is the prettiest or because it is the best grower or has the neatest flowers or tastes best, etc., you cannot assume that any characteristics it shows are repeated in the other plants in that wild population. Maybe the one they sent here was chosen because it had tetraploid characteristics that made it stand out from the others. I'm not sure if anybody knows if more than one plant was taken from the wild, but if it was only one, then all that we have today is derived from that one only. As we discussed earlier, it may not be apomictic either. Possibly only some of the seedlings the original one produced are.
                                                                                                       .......Bill Meyer 
                                                                                                                                                      
 

Hello Hosta-openers,
I thought there was a plant/cultivar named <H. ventricosa 'Aureomaculata'>, and that it was a deep green with a solid, bright yellow margin, with significant piecrusting.  I looked in the Hosta Library and found only a Vent"i"cosa, which I'll assume is simply missing it's "r", but the Aureomaculata pictured is not what I was expecting to see.  It could be correct; I'm not really questioning that, but isn't there a Ventricosa Aureomaculata that looks like what I described, i.e. with a bold yellow margin?   Russ (and now Rosanne O'Harra) has such a plant (amongst the redbuds, for those familiar with his garden) and what a gorgeous thing it is, indeed.  

Anyone know these Ventricosa's well or have an inkling of the plant to which I am referring? As I understand it, it may be the only known species tetraploid.  Anyone want to set me straight on that?   Okay, okay, if you're all that anxious for a crack at doing just that then I'm just going to have to look it up in the Hosta Bible.   Yepper, W. George Schmid lists H. ventricosa as, "the only natural tetraploid species in the genus with a chromosome number of 120 (2n)".  (Shouldn't this be (4n)?   If so, it's the only typo that I have found in over two years of voraciously attempting to consume its every word.)

What a treasure that book has become.  I shall treasure during the time that I am and beyond.  I don't really know how I managed to get through my first 47 years without it... Next to my "Bible" Bible, my "Hosta Bible" is the greatest piece of literary work that I own...

Anyhow, any help for this Aureomaculata question would be appreciated... 

-- 
Andrew C. Lietzow, Hacker - The ACL Group, Inc.   
..Also #1 Plantsman at http://hostahaven.com ...
...1250-41st St Des Moines, IA 50311-2516 ......
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