Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Variegata

Talk about hostas, hostas, and more hostas! Companion plant topics should be posted in the Shade Garden forum.

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ViolaAnn
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Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Variegata

Post by ViolaAnn »

Undulata Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Variegata -- What is the difference?

This has been discussed on Dave's Garden, though not recently. The plant seems to have a zillion variations on the name and it's one of the old, common varieties. When I bought mine, it was labelled 'Joyce Trott'! NOT!!! But I didn't know any better at the time. It was only when I started comparing mine to what a friend had that I began to suspect a problem. Mine was identical to her unknown, but old plant.

The trade seems to market this plant under a bunch of different names but they are likely all the same plant.
This site http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plan ... ?code=A408
has a good discussion in which they say,
Hosta undulata and Hosta ‘Undulata’ are designations applied to a large number of garden hostas that have in common wavy-margined, twisted leaves, which are either variegated or all green. Hostas sold in commerce as Hosta ‘Undulata Variegata’ or Hosta undulata ‘Variegata’ usually are mounding plants to 15-22” tall featuring narrow oval to elliptic wavy-margined green leaves (to 7” long) with irregular creamy white center stripes. Racemes of funnel-shaped, lavender flowers appear in summer on scapes rising well above the foliage mound to (24-36” tall). The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) currently breaks down Hosta undulata into four separate varieties (var. albomarginata, var. erromena, var. undulata and var. univittata). Under RHS designation, the within plant is synonymous with Hosta undulata var. undulata. Because of the taxonomic confusion over these wavy-leaved hostas, it may be best to check out the foliage before buying.
I've also seen discussions that indicate that var. undulata, var. univittata and var. erromena, may all be different stages of the same plant - lots of white, a narrow strip of white and finally all green and that my be born out when you see an old planting of undulata which has turned mostly green.

Over on the HVX forum, Chris recently identified both of the first two pics I'm going to post as var. univittata.

For my own, (the third pic), I've decided to call it just plain undulata. At times I've called it all of the above except erromena. But mine never goes greener during the summer.

I'd be interested in thoughts from others on the list and also from Chris.
#1 from HVX Forum
#1 from HVX Forum
#2 from HVX Forum
#2 from HVX Forum
My own plant
My own plant
Ann
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by Angel3K »

This one was labeled - Undulata MedioVariegata when I bought it. So far, it is doing well in my frontyard, just by the walking path, in full exposure to daily of sunlight. And to think, the more expensive Captain Kirk got fried, and almost dead now.

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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by Chris_W »

Hi Ann,

I've read that too, about how Undulata is said to always go solid green over time and end up being Erromena, and I'm not sure that I agree with that. Undulata has been in cultivation for something like a century or more? I would think that if it is going to go all green, wouldn't they all have done that by now and we wouldn't even be having this discussion?

With the naming issues, there are really only 3 valid names (and I tend to misspell Univittata all the time). By the way, these are all cultivar names as there is no such thing as an undulata species.

'Undulata' is the name for the form that has a wider white center than the edge. This makes a smaller clump as it has the most white.
'Undulata Univittata' is the name for the form with a green edge that is wider than the white strip in the center. This makes a good sized clump as it has more green and is more vigorous.
'Undulata Erromena' is the solid green form.

The others you mentioned: Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, and Variegata are all invalid names that are unfortunately often used in the trade for Undulata and Undulata Univittata, as many times when you field grow them they will all be mixed up so that you could have either in a field grown batch. But all three of those names are incorrect and shouldn't be used.

The third issue is with the green misting that Undulata can get, like pictured by Jerry on the HVX forum. This is just stress related and doesn't mean that the plant is going to the all green form of Erromena. Next spring those plants will be normal white in the center.

Here I grow a patch of these plants and I have Undulata and Undulata Univittata in a mixed group. I've been growing them for over 10 years and have never had a solid green plant come out of the batch. Sure, like any other hosta it is possible to get some solid green sports from things, but I don't believe that they will all lose their white. The Undulatas seen to be the most stable, though, as the Univittatas do have varying amounts of green and I think those will have a greater tendency to sport to green than Undulata.

So that's my take on it :)

Chris
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by jerryshenk »

I posted those pictures from the HVX forum. The first one (the one with the speckles) was recently moved. It will be interesting to keep an eye on it and see if it loses the speckles next year - I have pictures that specifically identify which plant it was with surrounding fixtures so I will be able to track it. The 2nd one is an original with this property. We moved here a little over a year ago. Knowing a little of the history of this property, I'm pretty sure that none of these hosta have been planted over 20 years ago, maybe 40. We bought it from the original owner who didn't seem like he messed with the plants at all and his wife passed away a decade or so ago after a long period of health problems - that's where I come up with 20 years. And none of them are solid green. We do have some solid green ones but, they are planted either in a totally different area or evenly spaced throughout a 200' long line along/near the property border.

This is crazy...a year ago, I didn't even know what a hosta was. I knew it was a plant but that's all!
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by Tigger »

I would agree with Chris that it's best to lump the white-centered 'Undulata' variants into two classes: 'Undulata' and 'Undulata Univittata'.

[side note: I just looked at the atrocious Wikipedia entry for the species (!) Hosta undulata.)

My experience here in the Mid-Atlantic (zone 7ish) is that, over time, these plants will progress from 'Undulata' to 'UU' over time, and 'Undulata Erromena' sports will invariably appear in well-grown, undisturbed clumps. Plants that are divided frequently (getting rid of any narrow-centered sports), or grown in stressful conditions that keep them puny, will be more likely to keep a stable variegation. I think that climate plays a part: my family's gardens in the Ohio valley have good-looking, stable 'Undulata' plantings, with rare intrusions of 'Erromena', and you folks north of that seem to never see it at all. The variable here is time: you might get a sport after 5 years in our climate, but it might take 25 years somewhere else.

With all the warming trends we're seeing, 'Undulata' really cannot be recommended for gardens in our area. It looks like hell not long after July starts, turning misty green as in the pictures above.

I can say, however, that I've never seen 'Undulata Albomarginata' sport to anything. Where you can keep it watered and keep slugs away from it, it can be an impressive border plant, given how rapidly it increases. Still, unless you already have a lot of it on hand, in this area I recommend better cultivars like 'Patriot' to get the same effect.
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by ViolaAnn »

So, mine, which has been stable way back to 2004 - the earliest year for which I have a digital image, really should be called 'Undulata Univittata' (which is what I decided a few years ago). But the incorrect trade names are all over the place and will likely be around for awhile. :o Interesting that you feel they develop the green misting only under stress. I was under the impression that all of the 'Undulata' plants would turn green during the season. I guess maybe in warmer climates, they get stressed enough that they usually turn green.
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by Tigger »

FWIW, I made some update to the Wikipedia entry for Undulata today. Not what I should have been doing... It appears that the taxonomy box on the right is locked; I could change the species name to a cultivar epithet, but it still looks wrong. You can click on the history tab to see what the old entry was (which appeared to call Undulata and Fortunei species, with confusing overlap between 'Undulata albomarginata' and 'Silver Crown' (a.k.a. 'Fortunei albomarginata'). Oddly, most of this information was only input this past March. This still isn't great, but at least it's not wrong.

Now why isn't there a separate Wikipedia entry for Hosta plantaginea? (or for others of equal merit)
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by ViolaAnn »

Tigger - the Wikipedia entry is much improved over what it was. Thank you.
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by ViolaAnn »

Name: H. 'Undulata Univittata'

Description: Wavy-leaved with basal, ovate leaves that are about 6 inches long. The leaves are striped lengthwise at the centre with cream or white.
Size: Small-medium (24"w x 12"h)
Origin: unknown
Flowers: Lavender in July.
Notes: I don't think there was a "daily" thread for this one - just this discussion at the time I was putting them up.

Registry link: http://tiny.cc/Undulata_Univittata
MyHostas Database link: http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Univittata
'Undulate Univittata', June 26, 2012
'Undulate Univittata', June 26, 2012
leaf June 19, 2012
leaf June 19, 2012
leaf June 19, 2012
leaf June 19, 2012
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by irawon »

I found some pictures of undulatas in my photo album dating to the early 2000s. I've been slowly removing them from my gardens and replacing them with others of thicker substance as I mentioned earlier.

I bought the undulatas and undulata univittatas in the late 70's, and divided them many times over for my garden club's annual sales.

The central plant in the first picture is Undulata Univittata, I think. I found that I had to divide it regularly in some locations or it would turn green OR maybe it was just the heat of summer that did it. If I've understood Chris' explanation correctly, the hosta in the top right hand corner of the first pic, then, should be Undulata. The second picture shows the whole h. Undulata.

I thought you should have a picture of Undulata for this thread and the two pictures show what Chris said... that Undulata Univittata is a bigger plant because of the greater amount of green. I think I'm finally squared away with these two plants. I may keep one of each for history sake.
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by rufie98 »

As a newbie, I find it interesting that these common older hostas have caused so much confusion.

I have attempted to find out the name of my older hostas. I believe I have undulata univittata, albomarginata and lancifolia. In regards to undulata univittata I have a total of four plants. Three were moved this spring and put around our birch tree. I could see that as the season progressed, these three were turning greener and I believe that is stress related---the birch tree roots and lack of moisture. One of these hosta in particular suffered greatly and began to diminish in size. Today I just discovered that it has been reduced to just two shoots and is mainly green! That really surprised me and I have never in my years of having these hosta seen this hosta turn green. I do believe that next year it will emerge with the white center (as Chris mentioned), but mostly I feel that all three of these hostas need to move to a new location. I don't get much joy looking at hosta that are deteriorating due to stress. Just takes the fun out of it.
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Re: Undulata - Univittata, Mediovariegata, Mediopicta, Varie

Post by redcrx »

Undulata:
Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... y=Undulata
MyHostas - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/u/undulatavariegata.html

Undulata Univittata:
Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... Univittata
MyHostas - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Univittata
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/u/uu.html

Undulata Mediovariegated:
Registry - not registered
MyHostas - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undula ... ovariegata
Hosta Library - not in the Hosta Library

Undulata Mediopicta:
Registry - not registered
MyHostas - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Mediopicta
Hosta Library - not in the Hosta Library

Undulata Variegata:
Registry - not registered
MyHostas - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Variegata
Hosta Library - not in the Hosta Library
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
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