To a casual observer these small flowers look similar, but upon closer inspection there are big differences between the three. I was lucky enough to have all blooming at the same time, so here is their comparison photo:
Thanks to Ric Morier for reaching out to me and giving me the history of how he came into possession of this wonderful plant. Here is what he wrote about the day he came across Hoya sp. VN Vietnam, which now has a name assigned to it: Hoya hainanensis:
Here is a new flower comparison photo of Hoya griffithii and Hoya thailandica. We will be spending considerable time on my five year struggle to get thailandica to flower in the near future, but I wanted to show this comparison photo before I forgot about it – Hoya griffithii on the left and Hoya thailandica on the right.
It is not every day that you have both of these plants flowering at the same time. My wife was kind enough to hold these flowers so that I could photograph them; so without further ado, here are Hoya imperialis ‘Palawan’ and Hoya imperialis ‘Rauschii’ seedling:
Once again, all good things must come to an end, and this is my final day with Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola until, or if I get a future massive floral display.
Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola is a truly wonderful specimen plant that seems unproblematic. It is an extremely fast grower, that flowers early and has a wonderful perfume. What more can you look for in a houseplant? It receives my highest recommendation!
According to Ted Green’s website, Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola is xerophytic, meaning a plant adapted to an arid environment, and should be grown dry in the winter time. This is probably good advice as it grows on dunes and red laterite in it native environment where it is subject to a monsoon rainy season followed by a long dry season. I have probably truly messed my plant up as it has been highly watered in a completely artificial environment since I received it!
Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola is very sweetly scented but not as powerfully perfumed as its close relative Hoya calycina. The leaves are glabrous and get a lovely reddish tinge in high light and makes a truly awesome specimen plant if you can accommodate the size.
Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola is endemic to two islands, Bathurst and Melville in the Northern Territories of Australia. It flowers March through July with fruits following 3-4 months later. The late, great, David Liddle, who supplied so many of us with new Hoyas for years, was one of the discoverers of this subspecies of H. australis.
Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola rooted and grew faster than maybe any other Hoya that I have experienced. The only other one that comes close might be Hoya imperialis. There is probably over 20 feet of vine in this one if it was all unwrapped from its trellis. I had to pot this one up numerous times to try and keep up. I fear that it may be a losing battle!
There has been a large hole in my Hoya growing resume to this point and that has been the absence of Hoya australis. The reason for this is that when I first started out with Hoya about 15 years ago, I knew nothing of Hoya culture, and I lost a couple of australis by over watering and simply never went back to them.
Fast forward to this summer and my good friend Robert from Colorado remedied my lack of australis by having Ted Green send me two different cuttings from Hawaii. I received two different clones: Hoya australis ssp. Oramicola and H. australis var Tonga. The flowers of H. australis ssp. Ormamicola are pictured below:
