Welcome to the club of people who don't know which australis many of their australises are. Elections will be run in the Fall and I'm going for jr. secretary.

Personally, I'm just hanging onto mine with the assumption that many of them are different lines of the more common australis ssp. One day when they are bigger and in bloom, I will pester people here to see if they have any insight, if I haven't gotten any wiser by then. But for now, I just sit back and enjoy them in all their mystery.

It's reasonably easy to figure out which one is probably australis ssp. australis and which one is probably australis ssp. tenuipes, but there are so many dodgy ones in between. Like, I have one that looks exactly like 'Kapoho' except its leaves are bigger and the fuzziness is slightly different and... gosh... I don't know...

I don't know...

So, yeah, I don't think we mean to leave you hanging here kids but...

LOL- it's perfectly ok, GG :) I was just thinking maybe some of you guys who had more experience with Hoyas then myself might have some insight. I love it no matter what it is, honestly- it's weirdness only adds to the beauty for me. I'm thinking maybe it will become a bit easier to ID once it's a little bigger, maybe.

I have an article by Foster and Liddle where the full descriptions of all Hoya australis subspecies are included plus the newest publication of Hoya australis subsp melanesica. There are differences between most subspecies that make them pretty easy to tell apart when you sit down and compare them but not all plants share all the characteristics and this causes a grey area. For example the bronze new growth or absence of it is not enough alone to identify a plant.
Once your plant has developed some nice leaves that don't have the irregular margins and you can take some measurements we would have a much better chance of figuring out just what you have. The irregular leaf shape can be caused by a young leaf being damaged, insect damage or perhaps uneven watering while the leaf is developing. Whatever cause the problem will work itself out and your plant should start putting out much more uniform leaves.

Are the backs of the leaves sparsely hairy as well as the margins?

Mike

I agree with you, Mike. And there's little to no hair on the backs of the leaves unless you count the vein. Otherwise it's smooth.

Mike,

Is there any way for you to share the article with us? I have never been 100% confident of my australis that I'm currently calling ssp. australis. At one time, I thought it was probably ssp. sanae because of Ted Green's description, and who knows? - that may still be what it really is! If you could post the article, or a link to it, or send it to me via e-mail, that would be awesome!

Denise in Omaha

Denise the article is a hard copy issue of Asklepios magazine and I have never been able to find the article online. I will try to see if I can find an online source or other way to share the article.
Rainbow Garden Books carries some technical Hoya publications and the Revision Of Hoyas in Australia contains three Hoya australis subspecies descriptions. There is much more useful info in the magazine article and it is most up to date being only two or three years old.
If you go shopping for Hoya books I would skip the Kloppenburgh books and head straight for the technical publications if you want details including habitat info etc. Still these are technical books with line drawings instead of photos but the price is right and much of the info is not easily found elsewhere.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Rainbow Garden Books HOYAS