All of the cuttings that I took of my failed plant easily rooted, and I was able to share this plant pretty widely through sales on eBay. Now here is the odd thing, since starting this plant over, twice more I have ended up with spectacular specimen plants that inexplicably failed with tons of leaves that would yellow and drop off. Each time there was no root rot observed at all so I am pretty baffled as to what the issue is. I have never observed another Hoya that would drop leaves without having compromised roots. Other than this problem, it is a stellar plant.

Right after this plant bloomed the second time, I noticed that the leaves no longer looked as vibrant and many of them started to yellow and fall off. I worried that I might lose the plant so I chopped it all up into multiple cuttings and put them in the propagator. The odd thing was that the roots on the specimen looked to be in good shape, so I have no idea what the problem was that caused so many leaves to fall off. Below the plant in its entirety before it went downhill:

The next morning I made sure to get up just before the grow lights came on and manage to get the flowers fully opened before they began to close up for the day. Below the blooms on that 2nd day. I should also note that I was not able to detect any real scent to the blooms.

My NOID Hoya with pointed leaves continued to grow well and had a number of up-pottings. It budded up early and I anxiously waited to find out what the real name of the plant I received from Indonesia was. It finally flowered in late 2022, and I have to say that it was somewhat of a let down in that it appeared to be a Hoya that only has its flowers fully opened at night or very early in the morning. When I first viewed the blooms, I knew at once that it was Hoya leucantha and not Hoya paradisea. Below the newly opened flowers after the lights had been on for about 3 hours.

I received a small cutting of a Hoya called Hoya sp. Papua Long Leaves (NOID) in late spring of 2022 from an Indonesian vendor who sold plants on Etsy. The cutting arrived in pretty good shape and grew well right from the start. I loved the long pointy leaves, and really wanted to know what I had received. I narrowed it down to two possibilities; it could either be H. leucantha or H. paradisea. I would have to wait until it flowered. Below the leaves of Hoya leucantha:

Leucantha means white-flowered, and that is what Hoya leucantha’s name is derived from.

Similar to Hoya patella Schltr. in corona morphology, as both species have erect, oblong inner corona processes and spreading narrow, oblong outer corona lobe processes, but they can be separated on peduncle length, number of flowers per inflorescence and corolla type and size (peduncle 1.4 – 4 cm long, 20 – 30 flowers per inflorescence, corolla rotate, 12 –15 mm diam in Hoya leucantha vs peduncle 2 – 3 mm long, 1– 2 flowers per inflorescence, corolla broadly campanulate, 3 – 4 cm diam in Hoya patella), based on Rodda and Simonsson, Blumea 67: 139 –155, 2022. (Big thank you to Mary Caroll for the research and retrieving this information for me)

Hoya leucantha is known from three localities in Indonesia, West Papua Province, the type collection from Utakwa River, one specimen from bomberai Peninsula, and one unvouchered record from Mimka Regency (Near Timika Town) in Papua Province.

Hoya leucantha was first collected by Cecil Boden Kloss in Indonesia, Papua Province, Utakwa River to Mt. Carstensz, at a canoe camp in 1912-1913. It was part of the Wollaston Expedition in Dutch New Guinea. The epiphytic plant was found at 500 ft in elevation.

We will begin talking about Hoya leucantha. For now here is a teaser photo of the blooms.