Here you can see the praetorii and lasiantha cuttings, all rooted in the same square pot. They were all well over a foot long, and branching, when I got them and they have lost 90% of their original mass.

The one in the top left corner looked like it died completely, (that's dead matter above that node) but just sprouted new growth.

The one in the bottom left corner I was actually able to root a backup cutting from, so those two are the same plant. They were just leafless stubs for a while, too, and have sprouted these new leaves.

I did lose the one that used to be in the bottom right corner. RIP.

And you can't see, but there is a 4th cutting in the top right corner. That's the sturdy fibrous vine you see curving out of the pot, partially obscured by a greenii leaf. This one actually didn't die back at all, so if my shot was taken from farther back, you'd see actual original leaves at the top. It just lost all its lower leaves.

I know this must seem like a lot of yammering and random observations, but I have tried to import these two species so many times, and I really believe, in retrospect, that my panicked attempts to chop the cuttings up into several smaller pieces, did more harm than good.

I think it's simply a plant that is inclined to drop ballast, in times of stress, but is more likely to survive from putting out new growth from the stump than from putting new roots out from a stressed cutting. The stressed cuttings, just don't root very well. Incidentally, I noticed this same thing from my original lasiantha, before it died. On one occasion it seemed to be declining, so I took a bunch of cuttings, and none of them survived. Then, it later regrew from its stump.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone next time they are panicking as they pull a desiccated lasiantha out of a box.

Wow! I am actually surprised they had regrowth. With my luck (generally an excellent gardener, with the exception of tomatoes and "stick" plants-hoyas included), those "sticks" would have suffered a drawn out death, without recovering any growth. Maybe I just don't have the patience to watch a twig, but if a couple of months have gone by, the twig would wind up in the garbage, if it were me! Congrats on reviving your beauties!

How many weeks approximately have passed from when the cuttings started looking dead to when they sprouted new growth, GG?

And generally, when a cutting looks desiccated and dead, when do you throw it away?

I had a few cuttings from this summer's orders never root and dry out instead, and it took me a couple of months to finally stop watering dead-looking stumps, unpot them, see that they look as dead underground as they do above, and to throw them away. But I still wonder - when do we DEFINITELY know the thing's dead?

Another cutting's leaves are STILL dehydrated more than 4 months after I potted it, and the stem looks horribly woody and dehydrated - BUT it has grown a very nice plump-looking leaf, so it's definitely alive.

It's hard to read all these misleading signs sometimes.