The short answer is I don’t know! It was probably created in a lab by altering the DNA of the plant through the use of chemicals, and or radiation. It seems to be a very secretive process that is rarely talked about. Hoya leaf variegation can also be created using selective breeding, and a few early variegated carnosa were done this way. This is an extremely slow, labor intensive method and it requires access to thousands of plants searching for that natural variations.

There is a huge financial incentive to develop these variegated sports of popular Hoyas as they can sell for many times what the original would sell for. I can pretty much guarantee that the rapid development of all of these new variegated Hoyas coming into the trade were done in the lab. Below the outer variegated Hoya polyneura: