Flora of North America species comparison

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Hosta lancifolia

narrow-leaf plantain-lily
Habit Plants forming open clumps 35–50 × 30 cm; rhizomes sometime stoloniferous.
Leaves

petiole erect, green, dotted purple at base, 17–25 cm;

blade deep olive green, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 10–17 × 5–7.5 cm, apex narrowly acuminate;

veins in 5–6 lateral pairs.
Scape

40–50 cm.
Inflorescences

racemes 10–20-flowered, lax, slender, 17–20 cm;

floral bracts short, glossy green, narrowly navicular;

sterile bracts 3–5, large, leafy.
Flowers

4–4.5 cm, not fragrant;

perianth tubular-campanulate;

tepals purplish violet, lobes spreading, recurved;

anthers purple.
Capsules

rarely developing (pod sterile).
2n

= 60.

Hosta lancifolia
Phenology Flowering late summer–early fall (September).
Habitat Disturbed open areas
Elevation 0–300 m (0–1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; IL; MD; NJ; NY; OH; PA; expected elsewhere; Japan (of garden origin); cultivated worldwide [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Hosta lancifolia produces an excellent ground cover with deep olive green leaves and vigorous vegetative growth. Since this species is of ancient horticultural origin and does not occur in the wild, it has been reduced to cultivar status in horticultural nomenclature as Hosta ‘Lancifolia’ (W. G. Schmid 1991).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 223.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Hosta
Sibling taxa
H. plantaginea, H. ventricosa
Name authority Engler: in H. G. A. Engler and K. Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2[II,5]: 40, plates 17, 18. (1887)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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