Their tradition in Japan goes back over 400 years. All were raised from green palms, all have names that usually end in Nishiki. I got mine many years ago, c2006 or so, from someone in South Florida who was raising them. They are pretty hard to find, and not cheap. There used to be a few dedicated nurseries raising them for sale, but I know at least 2 I used to follow closed over the last 10 years. The regular green Rhapis is totally 100% hardy here, I have a lot of them out in the yard, but these are less so. They can take down to the low 30's, but below that they struggle and suffer a lot of burn on the fronds. I trailed some outdoors for a few years and it became obvious that they need protection. I have some now in a big 35 gallon planter on my front porch that I can drag inside the front door if necessary, otherwise, all the others are planter in the ground in the greenhouse. Their variegations are generally stable unless they get over fertilized then they may have some extra green show up. Some are quite stoloniferous and can throw offsets as much as 5-7 feet away from the mother clump via underground stolon. I find them in all sorts of out of the way places
