Hoya solaniflora was discovered by Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter September 6, 1908 in Papua New Guinea. It was found at 1200 meters, Northeastern New Guinea, in the forests of the Finisterre mountains. The solaniflora name means flowers that look like a Solanum, or the nightshade family. If you have ever looked closely at the flowers of the potato, the blooms do look very similar to those of H. solaniflora.

There was a Hoya circulating as H. solaniflora for a number of years that was not the correct species. Nathalie Simonsson collected a large number of Hoya in PNG in 2012, and wrote about the rediscovery of the Schlechter’s plant in The Gardens Bulletin Singapore in 2017. Photo on left show flowers of the plant that was incorrectly labeled as H. solaniflora and photo on the right is the true Hoya solaniflora (NS12-277):

Hoya solaniflora is in the top five Hoyas that I came close to losing after receiving it. I obtained this plant as a rooted cutting from Julie Kennedy in May of 2024, and because of delays in shipment, it arrived in very bad shape. The roots were gone and there was only three leaves that had not yellowed and fallen off. I took two very tiny cuts; one had one leaf, and the other had two. I put them in water with a little KLN Concentrate and hoped for the best. I was incredibly fortunate both of the cuttings manage to root in water. I potted then both in coco husk chips in the same tiny pot. It took what seemed like forever to get any new growth, but it finally happened. This was a plant that it seemed for every two new leaves put on, one would yellow and fall off. It was not a good grower for the longest time. I constantly fought with chlorotic leaves, and for those who know me, there is nothing I hate more than yellowing leaves.

I won’t lie to you, this plant looked so bad, for so long, I toyed with the idea of getting rid of it, but I hung on, and it really paid off in the end. After about a year of poor growing, it began ever so slowly growing greener and healthier. It put on peduncles and around a year and a half after rooting my two terrible cuttings, it began to bud up! The flowers opened slowly at first one or two at a time, and I was afraid at first that I would not get the chance to get photos with more than a couple of flowers on a peduncle at a time. I need not have worried as the flowers of Hoya solaniflora are some of the longest lasting that I have found on a Hoya with some lasting over 3 weeks. I have been trying to find a Hoya flower that has shades of blue for years now. I have spent an incredible amount of time trying to flower Hoya medinillifolia, because it was supposedly the only blue flowered Hoya. That will be a story for another time, but for now. Hoya solaniflora holds the honor of the blooms with the most bluish/purple coloration that I have seen to date. As a side note, the flowers are very fragrant in a very pleasing way.

This fragrant, blue-flowered, beauty gets my highest recommendation for those Hoya keepers that are up for a challenge. It is definitely not a beginner plant, but will reward those with enough patience to nurse it through until it blooms. Once again a big thanks to Julie Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to try this Hoya!