According to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), this form of the species is native to Honshu Island in Japan and was "named and described in 1940 by Dr. Fumio Maekawa..."

This medium size (12 inches high) plant is most known for its purple-red petioles. It bears purple flowers in September.

Zilis goes on to say, "Once American hybridizers discovered H. longipes hypoglauca, the red petiole craze in hostas began."

Mikiko Lockwood in an article on The Hosta Library titled, A Little About Japanese Hosta Terms defines the term iwa as rock, Iwa Gibōshi or H. longipes and the term kofuki as glaucous.