its part of the hosta - I have a hosta that does this - for some reason I want to say sombrero - bought it a few years ago when I saw it was a "sun" hosta rather than the normal shady varieties.
I think the term is secondary fasciation. It is an aberration that usually occurs with stress, such as if the plant gets hit with the cold when it is trying to come out, it thinks it dying and sends up a second shoot.
I think it is another Hosta. I usually have a tall stalk with bell like flowers and along the stem is leaves. I love Hostas as they grow anywhere and take up all the space covering a multitude of weeds.
It looks like an off-shoot from the primary plant. A clone not progeny, it may develop into to a flowering stalk but it really looks like an off-shoot clone of the parent plant.
looks like a sport - a shoot that is different than the mother plant, would be great if you could remove it and root it. Could be a new variety of miniature.
I'm not sure we can safely say "what" it is until we know where it's coming from. Beth, is it independently growing directly from the ground? Or, is it emerging from a different hosta plant?
Karen, it is definitely growing in the middle of hosta leaves. It is part of the hosta plant. The leaves below it are a small cluster next to the main hosta. This is the 3rd year I have had it. It came from a nursery.
Not what we are used to seeing. I have dozens of hosta and love them.