This plant has been vexing me for a number of years and I keep saying I’m going to get rid of it, yet I still have it. Hoya sigillatis loses so many leaves every time it gets moved; it drives me nuts. I have to move it outside in the summer and into a grow tent in the winter, because I have no window where it would stay happy.
I continue to struggle with this plant, but can’t quite bring myself to throw it out.
Today’s final flower comparison photo. I’m sure that many of you tire of all of these comparison photos, but you can’t have something new flowering every day, and I’ve learned to never take these wonderful blooms for granted. I’ve talked to some people who have been growing H. macgillivrayi for ten years and have never seen a flower. I am lucky enough that mine flower several times a year so I have to show it off while I can.
From Left To Right: Hoya macgillivrayi, Hoya oblongacutifolia, Hoya celata, and Hoya patella
From Left to right: H. oblongacutifolia, Hoya celata, and Hoya patella.
Hoya oblongacutifolia on the left and Hoya celata on the right.
Hoya celata is a wonderful plant and one that I hope most of you would consider picking up. It is an easy grow, and if you have the room, a pot of all of the different ‘Dragon’ Colors would be quite delightful! 
When my original Hoya celata plant was doing so poorly after one year, I took a cutting for fear of losing it. As so often happens both the original plant and the cutting both lived. My two year old cutting now has a peduncle with growing buds. It should also be noted that this is the time of the year for flowering white, pink and black dragons as they are all budding up.
My question is why did Hoya pubicalyx ‘White Dragon’ become its own species, but the ‘Pink Dragon’ and ‘Black Dragon’ did not? The leaves on all of these plants differ greatly from all the rest of the pubicalyx world. They are very light green with absolutely no markings at all. I’m no botanist but the flowers all look alike except for color to my eye. Are the ‘Pink’ and ‘Black Dragons’ sub species of Hoya celata? Hopefully in time we will get these answers.
Up close and personal with the flowers of Hoya celata.
From Dale Kloppenburg’s Publication Paper: This new hoya species is not like any other present hoya species in that the apical
area of the outer coronal lobe is concealed (thus the name “celata”), bent sharply under
and hidden but most surprising is that it is bilobed. The corolla flattened is larger then
Hoya recurvula, and the curved under coronal apex is bilobed, anthers are much longer
and with the pollinia longer.”
Here is a link to that Paper: Hoya celata Kloppenburg, Siar, Mendoza, Cajano & Carandang 2012. ISSN 10055-4564
