Hoya sammannaniana was named after Datuk Sam Mannan director of the Sabah Forest Department.  The plant grows in Borneo (Sabah and Kalimantan) and has only been found growing in the canopy of lowland to hill mixed dipterocarp forest below 400 m.  (Taken from the book A Guide to Hoyas of Borneo by Anthony Lamb and Michele Rodda).