Hoya naumannii was named for Friedrich Carl Naumann who first collected the species. I always find it interesting to learn a little bit about the etymology of a named Hoya. A big shout out to Mary Carroll for unearthing this information for me!

Naumann was born in 1841 in Ehrenbreitstein, Germany and Died in 1902 in Kloster Lausnitz, Germany. He studied natural sciences and medicine at Berlin and Heidelberg, taking his Dr’s degree in 1865. He was a fleet-surgeon on the voyage of the ‘Medusa’ to Eastern Asia and on the voyage of the ‘Gazelle’ from the latter voyage returning with broken health. In 1877 he settled as practitioner at Gera in Germany. Several plants were named after him.