Hi Denise,

Have you tried Aleya Garden?

Hi Mitzicos,

I see they have the species listed, but there's no photo so I'm not sure if it would be the more common one that is shaped more like the variegated form (long, narrower heart-shaped leaves) or the wide leaf clone. And I'm a little gun-shy from buying overseas as my last experience (a couple summers ago) didn't work out so well and I'm not so sure how others would feel about the risk and expense of ordering from overseas. I was hoping to find a stateside vendor to recommend. I'm sure most of Mike's come from overseas, but I've heard good things about the end result of ordering from some, like Paul Shirley...

Denise in Omaha

Denise that plant did come from Paul Shirley. I am not entirely sure of it's identity. One think I do no is that Paul Shirley does not ship to the US, too many problems in the past.

My plant has flowered several times on a bare vine with about 30 peduncles on it. The flowers are not very showy but they do have a sweet scent at night. The plant itself was quite slow to grow and it likes it dry during the winter. I have not had any problems growing this one.

Hoya sp Sulawesi GPS 8867

Mike

HOLY SMOKES Mike! The amount of flowers on that is AMAZING!
Must like YOU!

Yes, that looks like my macrophylla, flowers and all! I wonder if there are any US vendors that have this clone. Has yours set any mammoth leaves? Mine had one that was knock-your-socks-off huge. I recently went to clean around it and turned the side with that leaf and found two more just like it! I love it!

Denise in Omaha

Wow, that's a LOT of flowers! How can you say 'the flowers are not very showy' when they put up a show like that? lol :D The scent must have been amazing with all those flowers at the same time!

That'a an AMAZING Hoya Mike...can't get over the amount of Blooms on that one plant! Beautiful!!

Denise most of the leaves are about the size of a tea saucer. I have had to clip this on directly onto the metal shelving unit because those leaves are very heavy. I also find that this plant makes a big cluster of leaves at it's base before it sends up other vines. The leaves can also be more round in shave than the one in the photo I posted.

Klea I guess I see your point as the number of flowers is pretty impressive. There are clusters of bloom peduncles and peduncles growing right off of others. Still the flowers don't fully open and they are at least to me quite boring. I don't even have a photo of this ones blooms close up, perhaps I should change that though. The scent is quite sweet and pleasant. I find the blooming habit of this Hoya far more interesting than the flowers themselves.

Golden and Pug thank you. This Hoya seemed to respond this way after I started giving it a longer dry period during the winter. I was surprised to say the least. lol

Mike

Gorgeous leaf!

Mine gets clusters of peduncles like that...

And I know what Mike means about the flowers - you'd expect a plant with showy leaves to have showy flowers, but they're comparatively small and the individual flowers seem to want to open at different times, so it's hard to get a photo where all the flowers look open and fresh in a single peduncle...

The variegated form is the same way. It's the leaves, though, that make it one of my favorites.

Denise in Omaha

I dont know - I think that photo of your flowers Denise is VERY BEAUTIFUL! Very dainty looking...

It must be nice to have so many hoyas flowering to consider this boring! Please keep posting your "boring" flowers I really like looking at them! :)

Aggie

I agree with golden - the flowers look beautiful in that picture. Very cute with that rosy blush. But maybe the flowers actually are dull, and only look good in the picture because Denise is a really good photographer! :)

That's an amazing cluster of flowers in the first picture, by the way.

I think those pictures you guys are posting of the bare vines with so many peduncles are so funny. They are so awkward looking it almost doesn't seem to be a Hoya. More like something you'd see in a desert. But very thrilling for all us, all the same. :P

Thanks so much for starting this thread, Denise. A cutting of your plant has long been in my long term wish list, so I'm not surprised to hear that you experience a demand you cannot meet.

We may not have had much of a US-friendly breakthrough, so far, but it is interesting to see the similarities between these two plants. I did get ahold of TG's latifolia var. concolor, which is said to have rounder leaves. It is a very handsome plant, with leaves nearly 1/4" thick, but so far they seem pretty tear-drop shaped. We'll see - it's still very small, and you know how it takes years to get to know a plant's nature...

Well, I was looking at my plant last night and it seems its leaves are finally broadening, so I'll have to redact my previous statement. Here's a current picture.

That does look just like my plant's leaves other than the fact that my plants are very shiny. I find this one will grow a bunch of huge leaves down at pot level and then start to put out long vines that carry slightly smaller leaves. Even the smaller ones are about the size of a tea saucer. I think if i watered my plant more in the summer it might even make larger leaves but it's in a bark heavy mix in an unglazed clay pot so it is dry only a couple days after watering.

Mike

That's a good theory, Mike. Mine is in plastic but it still seems to dry out super quickly...

Yes, your leaves are definitely glossier - these are almost matte. And they also have very thick bulging rope-like veins. After I posted this picture I was looking at it and thinking I should probably have it in a terra cotta pot like my rigidas and rigida-type plants. I, too, have trouble keeping up with their summer watering pace, but I do think they are happy this way, so I am glad I took your advice.

Mike and Denise...I'm inclined to believe that your hoyas are actually what Iris Liddle sells as H. polystachya, and Ted Green sells as H. glabra. Polystachya means "many umbels". I have both, and both are identical...massive, very glossy leaves. I wish that David Elliott would respond, as he has this hoya as well...it generally circulates as H. polystachya. I, too, have the all-green macrophylla..no comparison to Denise's, leaves are matte, and the same size/shape as macrophylla variegated. I'm afraid that what I've written will only add to the confusion, but I believe that David Liddle knew what he was talking about. Mine are in large pots, and I water heavily every 7 days...the plants are on the floor and reach the ceiling..or close to it. Warm regards, Patrick

I don't have Hoya macrophylla but I can tell that this plant is different than the Hoya macrophyllas I have seen. I am not sure how Hoya glabra could be sold as this plant though as it's flowers are completely different as it's in a different section of the genus. The leaves do resemble Hoya glabra's leaves but those are much less succulent.
I had a little accident with my 5' tall Hoya polystachya last night. I was carrying it through a doorway and apparently forgot that it was so tall. The plant is still in the pot but the large bamboo poles that supported the plant are not. I hope that I can somehow rig up a new support for that plant because it's very heavy with all those large leaves. Now I know why I usually just leave that one in its place.

Mike

OMG, I want a macrophylla like Denise's. Denise, Please put me on your waiting list!

Susan

Thanks for your response, Patrick. I don't think it adds to the confusion, although I still am not sure what is what. :P

Denise hasn't posted a clear picture of her leaves in this particular thread, and so I am going to post a couple on her behalf before people make too many assumptions about how similar/dissimilar it is to any of the other plants here. (Hope this is okay, Denise!)

To me, Mike's plant does not look like a macrophylla or glabra or polystachya.

What I have came to me as latifolia. And I don't know whether it is that or something else (polystachya, macrophylla, clandestina, etc), as this is the subject of old debate. I like the plant, so I'll just grow it and we'll see what I discover as it matures.

It just so happens that the only Hoya my sister owns is the polystachya Joni sells (IML 1043) and it looks more similar to the macrophyllas than Mike's plant.

I agree that it is weird that a polystachya would be sold as glabra - the differences between these two at least are easily distinguishable at a glance. I can only assume there's some academic disagreement behind this?

Mike lol. Probably any of these plants (glabra, polystachya, macrophylla), full grown, would not be good to move around. :P

GG, that photo of my mac when it was "just a pup" is one of my favorite photos because it really shows how bronze the new foliage is.

Here are my observations about my polystacha - the leaves do look similar to macrophylla, but in general, they're narrower than my macrophylla. My polystacha has been growing like a weed the last month or two, and macrophylla (for me) is a relatively slow grower. Macs leaves are a little more succulent than polystacha. However, on Christina's website (MyHoyas.com), her photos (flowers AND leaves) and description make them identical twins. Since she only has the variegated form of macrophylla, I can't make a comparison. It IS a stumper!

I don't really see a lot of similarity between macrophylla and latifolia - but you'll definitely know if it's a latifolia you have once it blooms. The flowers are very different from macrophylla.

Denise in Omaha

I, too, am stumped by the correct name for this hoya...it's either polystachya (Latin for "many umbels") or macrophylla, but if it's macrophylla, it must be a different clone, as my macrophylla has much smaller leaves and lack the high gloss. I, too, disagree with Ted on calling this hoya H. glabra. He collected it in Sabah, and named it H. glabra...I'm positive it's really H. polystachya, due to the immense number of umbels, as the name suggests. I look forward to the day when the "guessing" will end, and we'll all know exactly what we have. I'm simply a novice, and am only expressing my experiences...everything I state should be taken with "a grain of salt". On H. latifolia, mine has changed a tremendous amount in the past 6 months...for 3 years it did little growing, now it's grown huge leaves, they're very glossy green, with great venation. Previously it looked exactly like H. loyceandrewsiana, now it looks much more like H. rigida, H. polystachya, & H. glabra IML 0992...a real brain teaser!! Fondly, Patrick