Nice list Mike. I am nursing along a calycina that has a peduncle. I have heard this is fragrant also. I would love to bloom the ones that smell like grape juice too! ~ Mary

If anyone can collect them and grow them successfully to bloom, it's you, Mike! You're skilled! :-)

That's a nice little list. There must be someone out there who has rated all their Hoya scents on a 1-5 scale. It would be nice to compile and make a big chart, since this issue comes up a lot.

I prefer a milder scent in most cases, since I live with my plants all around me, but if it's a buttery caramelly smell, like DS-70 or heuschkeliana, it can be as big as it likes.

This is Joni's list. (I think it's gotten bigger. It also looks a lot like the list you have.)

cagayanensis, citrina, onychoides, carnosa, australis, wightii, pottsii, verticillata, obscura, cumingiana, incrassata, cv. Christine, cv. Sunrise, naumanii, acuta, citrina, calycina, thomsonii, cembra, cv. Iris Marie, magnifica, heuschkelianas, rigidas, obovata, juannguoiana, limoniaca, merrilli, montana, pachyclada, pubicalyxs, samoensis, odorata, davidcummingii, subcalva, archboldiana, cinnamomifolia, cv. Pinkie, cv. Rebecca, cv. Sunrise, DS-70, fitchii, lambii, neoebudica, rotundiflora, lacunosas (these are the ones I find have the strongest fragrances).

A list of smells would be nice ( also with what it smells like) but it's so subjective. I guess it's dependent on clones, growing conditions, etc. Like Joni has merrilli as being fragrant. Mine had no smell at all.
I became interested in Hoya mainly because of the scent. I couldn't wait til lacunosa bloomed and then it did. I could smeall carnations so I knew to look for a lacunosa bloom and found it. At night it smells different. But I don't consider the daytime carnation odor or the night time odor real appealing.

Magnifica is one I'm not sure about. Ted Green has it as one of the best smelling but others have listed it as smelling like horse manure. The closely related albflora is suppose to smell really good and I have a H. aff. albiflora from Carol Noel who says it is one of her favorites. Mine hasn't bloomed but I am really looking forward to it.

That's the thing, people perceive scents differently. I like the scent of most of the Acanthostemma section Hoyas and think it smells buttery and sweet. Others that have smelled the same plants describe them as smelling like dirty socks. Also strong scents are often difficult for some people.

Mike

It's strange that section Acanthstemma has some of the most fragant Hoya (DS-70, heschkel, etc. )but I only hear about a few. Are the other not fragrant or just insignificantly fragrantt? It seems like there are a lot of new Hoya being discovered in this section too.

I think that people react to the "idea" of a scent more than just to whatever specific chemical composition any given smell is. The brain is amazingly good at remembering an endless amount of different scents along with the feelings that accompanied them. So, there are people who cannot stand the scent of whatever flowers were in the funeral arrangement of a loved one even if they enjoyed them previously because from then on their brain automatically associates the scent of violets or lilies or carnations or whatever with death, and for them an air freshener or perfume with similar scent would likely be repulsive as well.

Early on in my marriage I watched the reverse of that when I heard my husband gagging and retching in the bathroom. When I went in trying to find out what was the matter he was finally able to tell me that the smell of something rotting in the garbage can he was emptying was making him ill. That was news to me as there should have been nothing of the sort in the can and I smelled nothing. So I did a quick sift through the trash which was nothing more than some crumpled sheets of loose-leaf and a few envelopes. The simple idea that trash is supposed to smell bad created the whole situation in his mind to where he was overcome by an imaginary stench. We still laugh about it today and every once in a great while when he starts gagging on trash night he'll point to the trash and tell me he just can't stand the smell of all that ... paper.

When I was pregnant last year, my Nummularioides was in bloom. With my senses being in "over drive", this plant drove me crazy! To me it smelled like a dirty litter box! This year when it bloomed I almost dreaded it. But didn't bother me at all, surprisingly!

I think it's indisputable that people perceive scents differently, just as they perceive tastes differently (hence the inexplicable popularity of hoppy beers). I think it's fascinating that not everyone is experiencing the world the same way I am.

That said, there's truth in VaeVictus's point, too. I, for one, HATE it when dish soap or deodorant smells like lavender, because it reminds me of changing dirty diapers. And I haven't had kids, so that association must be way back from my babysitting days.