Hoya tjadasmalangensis

Hoya tjadasmalangensisI have owned both Hoya tjadasmalangensis and Hoya polystachya for five to six years.  Hoya tjadasmalangensis was bought from a collector in Tennessee and polystachya was bought as a cutting from David Liddle.  Both of my plants have always looked identical and I had not bloomed either one up until now.  I have been researching both plants on the Internet prior to writing this post, and it was not all that helpful.  If both of these species are not the same plant, then they are so close that there is absolutely no reason for a collector to own both of them.  I have a sneaking suspicion though that the plant I bought as tjadasmalangensis is in reality polystachya.  I say that only because in David Liddle’s description of the plants, he indicates that tjadasmalangensis has small pink flowers, and polystachya has small green/yellow flowers.  If you research both of these online most photos show them both with pink tinged flowers.  I know that flower color is not a real good indicator of identity, but that is really all I have to go on.  I’m also pretty sure after looking at all of the Google Images, many collectors have their plants id’s mixed up.  I will be adding this post to my Hoya pages for both species, if indeed they really are two separate species!

Here is a short two minute video of the plant:

Regardless to the controversy above, both polystachya and tjadasmalangensis are incredible foliage plants.  Also, their flowers are much more impressive than I was led to believe.  Each flower measures close to a centimeter across, and has an incredibly beautiful perfume.  The photos below are from the plant sold to me as tjadasmalangensis, but I believe it to be polystachya.  Click on any to see full sized!