A Hosta cultivar ‘Neulpureum 1’ was bred at the Korea National Arboretum, which produces new cultivars using vegetative propagation techniques. The new cultivar ‘Neulpureum 1’ was derived by crossing Hosta minor with Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’. Among the induced leaf-color- and shape-modified hosta plants, the plants that exhibited deep-green color and small-bended leaves were selected. ‘Neulpureum 1’ maintained the deep-green leaves for longer than Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’. Additionally, the plant height of ‘Neulpureum 1’ was shorter than that of Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ and several leaves were observed on the new cultivar; therefore, it is likely to be used as a pot plant. The botanical characteristics were investigated for three years beginning 2012. A Hosta ‘Neulpureum 1’ can prove to be useful as a material for a pot plant or as ground cover plant at half-shadow place.

Tiarella polyphylla D. Don is a native plant distributed only in Ulleung Island in Korea and has been traditionally used for medicinal purposes, although it is also used ornamentally. This study was conducted to determine the requirements for dormancy break and germination and to classify the type of seed dormancy. The experiments were performed with cold stratification (0 or 12 weeks at 5℃), warm stratification (0, 4, 8, or 12 weeks at 23℃, followed by 8 weeks at 5℃, and then incubation at 23℃), and GA3 treatments (0, 10, 100, or 1000 ㎎/L). The treated seeds were incubated on aseptic media at room chamber (23℃, a 16h photoperiod of fluorescent lamps with 40 μmol ․ m-2 ․ s-1). The seeds were dispersed in nature as underdeveloped embryos with no physical barrier to absorb water to prevent water absorption. However, the seeds did not germinate for 30 days after sowing without any pre-treatments. Thus, the seeds had morphological dormancy (MD) and physiological dormancy (PD). The final germination percentage following cold stratification (0 or 12 weeks) was 66.7% and 45.6%, respectively. The cold stratification delayed seed germination by about 3 weeks. In the warm stratification experiment (0, 4, 8, or 12 weeks), the final germination percentage was 21.1%, 27.8%, 41.1%, and 57.8%, respectively, 20 weeks after sowing. The embryos of the T. polyphylla seed grew in relatively warm temperatures (23℃). GA3 application overcame seed dormancy and promoted germination. Following GA3 treatment (0, 10, 100, or 1000 ㎎/L), the final germination percentage was 33.3%, 45.0%, 42.5%, and 72.5%, respectively. These results suggest that the T. polyphylla seeds had non-deep simple morphophysiological dormancy (MPD) and GA3 treatment could be used as a substitute for warm stratification for breaking seed dormancy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of seed dormancy characteristics of the genus Tiarella native to Korea.