Description
Asarum sakawanum has larger flowers than many species with longer petals which are more widely separated. In the subspecies (or form or variety according to your opinion) the flowers have especially longer petals which extend considerably making a much more star-shaped flower, which is horticulturally much more desirable. We have a thought, but not one based on much experience, that many of the star-shaped Asarum, produce flowers with shorter petals (which thus look less starry) when humidity levels are low.
This clone Uchukai (we think this name translates as something to do with space {or perhaps aliens}? ) It has nicely patterned leaves which are well marked with a broad zone of silvery-green with a few splashes, here and there, of silvery green over a darker ground.
Though the leaves are very good (as is the case in many of the clones selected for superior or more desirable features) is clone is for its spectacular flowers, which really are like something from another planet. The flowers are albino and have lost their purple pigments, so they present as pallid yellow to whitish yellow-green. They are large, larger than typical sakawanum, and they are noticeable – they are really rather beautiful which isn’t perhaps a word you hear a lot in relation to Asarum, where “interesting”, “curious” and intriguing” are more frequent adjectives. Each petal is folded along the edges and pinched near the base in a perfectly symmetrical way, but through the constricted zone, you can still see the concentric carruncles around the mouth of the throat.
The flower is a good size and the floral tube (set behind the petals) is likewise, quite substantial. This one is a beauty.
New to our lists in January 2020
