There are over 70 species of Hosta with many hundreds of varieties. It is a very popular garden plant both with people for its shade tolerant characteristics and with slugs or snails for whom it is a great delicacy. In my own garden I have seen Hostas eaten to a tiny green stump by slugs and snails so it was a great surprise to find this patch thriving by the side of a disused road in a damp hollow - exactly the sort of place I would expect to find such predators.

Perhaps for the reason that no-one expects this plant to be able to survive in the wild, it does not feature on the BSBI list or in Stace and short of consultinga Hosta expert, I cannot identify it any further with certainty. However the one-sided habit of the flowers and the green leaves make it very similar to Hosta ventricosa.

Common Lane, Partington 10th July 2007

Added on 1st February 2008, updated 9th April 2009, updated 7th April 2010