Hoya pulleana was first collected, vouchered, and or published March 24, 1913 by August Adriaan Pulle. It is only known from two localities in the southern part of Indonesia’s Papua province, near Sungai Unir and at Kelurahan Iwaka, Iwaka, Mimika Regency. The label on the type specimens only mentions the habitat as ‘forest’. The plant observed at Kelurahan Iwaka was found in lowland riverine forest (Imran pers. comm. to authors Rodda and Simonsson). This species was named after the collector of the type specimen of this species, August Adriaan Pulle (1878 –1955), a Dutch professor and botanist who made important contributions to the flora of New Guinea and Suriname (Big thanks to Mary Carroll for finding this information).

I participated in a Bay Area Hoya get together in January of 2025, and the organizers asked me if there were any Hoyas that I was looking for that I did not already have. I gave them a couple of names, and they very generously sent me both of them. Hoya pulleana was one on my wish list, and it was sent to me in the coldest part of the winter in February. The vendor had insulated it very well, but it still spent 10 hours at below freezing temperatures in a mail truck. It was a rooted nice looking plant when it was packaged but the freezing temps almost did it in. The roots were also completely rotted off. I was able to salvage 2 or 3 tiny cuttings, which I put into my prop box and crossed my fingers.

It seemed to take forever but I finally got those little pulleana cuttings to take root. At first they took forever to finally start showing some new growth, then once they started they grew pretty rapidly. I finally moved them up to a 4 inch clear orchid pot growing them in my mostly coconut husk chips with a little perlite thrown in. After receiving and restarting the plant in February, it only took until November to get peduncles that budded up and began opening. This is a plant where the flowers only open gradually on a peduncle one at a time. It can take a week to ten days to get them all to open. I love these little blooms, which unlike most Hoyas do not seem to drip nectar – A big plus in my book!

I didn’t take in many new Hoyas in 2025, but the few that I did provided me with a lot of pleasure. Hoya pulleana is an absolute joy of a Hoya. It is a easy, reliable grower that won’t outgrow its welcome in a hurry. It is an early bloomer that should flower for you in its first year with blooms that are long lasting and don’t drip nectar. There is really not one negative thing that I can say about this plant. It gets my highest recommendation – pick one up today!