The German taxonomist Rudolf Schlechter decribed Hoya naumannii from the August 26, 1875 discovery of the plant by Friedrich Naumann. The plant was discovered at lower elevations of the costal forests of Bougainville Island.

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.

Hoya naumannii is endemic to Bougainville Island (largest island in Solomon Island archipelago, part of Papua New Guinea until 2027).

We will take the next few days and discuss Hoya naumannii. Here is a preview of the flowers:

I finally feel like I have my Hoya imperialis, growing, groove back. I really believe that the flat mite issue that I had is what gave me all of the problems with a plant that I used to grow effortlessly. Spray your plants with sulfur folks if you are having any failure to thrive, or failure to grow issues.

First and foremost, don’t overwater this plant as it is very susceptible to root rot. Use coconut husk chips mixed with a little large perlite as a medium. Use a clear orchid pot to make it easier to tell when to water. After the medium becomes totally dry, soak the pot for 30 seconds to re-wet the husk; don’t water again until dry. Does not like strong lighting, or the leaves turn red, which is not good for this plant. Keep humidity high above 60% at all times and keep plant as warm as you are able. These are not easy conditions to meet unless one has a grow tent, or and greenhouse, but it is worth the effort.

This is such a hard Hoya for me to grow well that I have to take pride in this plant. Tomorrow I will give away my secrets for success with this species.

I have not fooled around with the photo processing software package that I have, but this morning I decided to give it a try. It really does make for an interesting effect.

This is only the second time that this has happened to me. I have flowered Hoya macgillivrayi dozens of times, but with only one exception it has always involved using supplemental grow lights. That previous exception produced only one flower; on this occasion I got four.

When this plant first became available it was insanely expensive, and I stayed away from it. After picking one up a few years ago on a lark, not all that enthusiastically, it turned into one of my most spectacular plants. It is now available almost everywhere for very cheap prices and I encourage everyone to have this plant in their collection. It is the easiest to grow of any variegated Hoya that I have ever attempted and the most rewarding.