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History of Hosta

 

The Japanese name giboshi (or sometimes spelled giboushi) came from an ornamental pillar capping on a bridge handrail because the leaf shape resembles it.   A woodprint picture by a famous Ukiyoe artist Hiroshige can show you what a pillar capping �giboshi� looks like. Did you know that young hosta leaves are eating as vegetables and are sold in grocery stores in the spring in Japan.

Hostas are native to eastern Asian counties including Japan, Korea and China, especially more varieties are found in Japan.  According to W. George Schmid, the author of "The Genus HOSTA - Giboshi Zoku� (Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1991), Japanese and other foreign names cannot be translated per the ICNCP (International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants) 2004 Edition.  There are lots of hostas with tongue twisting names and the names that don�t make sense to most of us -- �Sagae� or �Kifukurin Ko Mame� for example. 

Hostas are found growing wild in Japan.  Mother Nature sometimes plays tricks, and hostas are not exceptions.

 Oba Giboshi (H. montana) is a green hosta.  But Mother Nature dropped a little yellow color on the leaf edges.  Now this giboshi is called �Kifukurin (yellow-edged) Oba Giboshi� instead of a unique �creative� name.  As you may have guessed, it is called H. montana �Aureomarginata� in western countries.   By the way, "aureo" means yellow, and "marginata" means margined in Latin, don't they?  We can't say its western name is creative, either.

Likewise, Ohatsuki Giboshi (H. �Undulata Erromena�) with white edges is called "Fukurin (variegated) Ohatsuki Giboshi" in Japan.  Can you guess what it is called here?   That�s right � it is H. �Undulata Albomarginata.�  Again, "albo" means white in Latin, therefore, we can't comment on Japanese giboshi names after all.

Well, anyway, many hostas in Japan were named this way, by �descriptive� words simply added to the parent hosta names.

The words used in Japanese hosta names fall into one of the 3 categories:
 

  1. Descriptive word such as Ogon (yellow/gold), Fukurin (edged).
  2. Given unique name such as �Sagae�, �Kokuryu�.
  3. Species or cultivar that a sport was derived from such as Iwa (H. longipes), Oba (H. montana).

 

Excerpts from: the Giboshi arekore web site.