I think the Brother Stefan one-color would be a sport, as well as the all-green from Rainforest Sunrise. The all-yellow from Rainforest Sunrise is a reversion to Maui Buttercups, I think.

The difference between a reversion and a sport is that a sport is new and different from the hosta in question. A reversion is when a hosta reverts back to the plant from which is sported origianally.

I'll use h. June as an example. June is yellow centered, with a blue edge. It's a sport of all blue h. Halcyon. When h. June throws up a blue set of leaves, it's probably a reversion to h. Halcyon. However, when h. Halcyon threw up a yellow centered set of leaves, it's was a sport, as it had not previously existed..

Of course, you don't know for sure it's a reversion unless it is genetically tested, but you assume it is a reversion. Why introduce another blue hosta that looks exactly like Halcyon?

bkay

BS is a seedling from olga ... a specified cross ... so any change in it.. would be a sport ... and i could add .. not created in TC ....

RS is from jim anderson.. and his TC lab .. [which is a story unto itself] ... and to be a reversion it would have to be yellow like MB ... but since its green.. would be a sport ...since MB was a specific cross by bill vaughn ...

ken

I think I'm hearing the following.

1. If a plant is a sport of some other plant, and it puts up a bud that looks like that other plant, then that new bud is a reversion. Or assume it is.

2. A plant that is a sport of some other plant can also put up a bud that's a sport. Assume it's a sport if it doesn't look like the other plant.

3. A plant that started as a seedling can't put up a reversion. It can only put up a sport. Can this be right? What if the sport looks like either the pod parent or the pollen parent?

4. I have no idea how TC plants fit into this. Do TC plants work by the same rules?

Have I got this right?

You have it right.

" Assume it's a sport if it doesn't look like the other plant. " Generally speaking you are right. However, a sport can sport again. Only if it's identical to the mother plant (the plant from which it sported) is it considered a reversion (from the root word, revert, which means to "go back to it's original condition"). The site, myhosas.be, has all the information on sports of each hosta and the sports of sports, etc., if it interests you.

TC plants often put up sports during the tissue culture process. During the last few years, we've had tons of these.

bk