I’ve noticed that the flowers on my Hoya pulchra seem much darker than the flower photos that I have seen online. It is no doubt attributable to the very bright LED lights that the plant lives under.

Here are a couple of photos of the really unique flowers of Hoya pulchra close up:

Here is a photo of the back of the flowers showing them off against the background of Hoya versteegii which sits below the hanging pot of H. pulchra.

My plant is very young at this point with very few leaves so it is a long way from being a nice looking specimen. I am sure that with time that will come. Since the initial flowering in December the plant has put on a second peduncle, and is showing signs of wanting to put on new growth.

The plant flowered during the coldest point in my basement grow tents. The nighttime temps went down to around 55 degrees F and Daytime highs were around 72 degrees F.

The plant soldiered on and the vine grew a few more leaves so I up-potted it into a 9oz clear cup. Around 7 months after receiving the plant it formed a long peduncle and started budding up. So while the flowers are similar except for color to Hoya waymaniae, the plant was far easier to grow and flower.

Hoya pulchra came to me early last summer from my good friend Julie Kennedy from the UK. It spent a little too much time in the mail, but arrived in pretty good shape over all. I potted it up in coconut husk chips in a 3oz clear cup and waited for it to acclimate. The lights in my tent are pretty intense and withing a short period the leaves were very red.

Pulchra means handsome or beautiful.

“Hoya pulchra stands out among Hoya species by having very long peduncles and tooth-like corona lobes. The only other published species with this combination of characters is Hoya waymaniae (Kloppenburg 1995)” Thanks to Mary Carroll for providing the research. Below the flowers of Hoya pulchra on top, and Hoya waymaniae on the bottom:

Hoya pulchra was discovered March 22, 2016 at 1,000 meters in elevation in De Leon. Mindanao, Bukidnon Province, Philippines.