Species are those plants that currently live in the "wild" or where there is evidence such as herbarium specimens that they once lived in the wild. At least that is a major part of the definition of a species which is always under debate by taxonomists.

Until fairly recently, there was a lot of confusion and lack of unity on the topic of species in the genus, Hosta. Then, in 1991, noted hosta expert, W. George Schmid published his reference, The Genus Hosta. He changed the status of some species to cultivar status because there was no evidence of them ever having lived as populations in the wilds. In the end, he decided there were 43 hosta species. As the debate continued, George later came to the conclusion that Hosta sieboldiana was actually a cultivar so it was renamed, H. 'Sieboldiana' although a few other hostaphiles still debate that decision.