The last time I restarted Hoya benchaii from cuttings was late in 2021. It was particularly painful because I had actually got the plant to around 8 inches in height. I was growing in leca using the semi-hydro method, but like all my Hoyas when grown that way it was succumbing to root rot. By this point I had moved over to coconut husk chips as a medium so I managed to root 2 small cuttings in it. It took a very long time, but finally I began to see growth in these cuttings in the spring of 2022.

I got a small rooted cutting of Hoya benchaii way back in 2017. You have probably heard of some Hoyas being referred to as plastic plants; For myself Hoya benchaii typifies that condition. I went through so many points where the plant would only gather dust on the leaves for months with zero growth. I tried growing it in a lot of different media types over the years with many restarts primarily because of root rot.

Honestly I thought that growing Hoya benchaii would be pretty straight forward and similar to my experience with H. kloppenburgii; nothing could have been further from the truth!

Here are both of these Hoya together in the same photograph with Hoya benchaii on the left and Hoya kloppenburg on the Right.

Hoya benchaii is very similar to Hoya kloppenburgii, but here are a few differences (Thanks to Mary Carroll for unearthing all of this information!)

1. Hoya benchaii can be differentiated from Hoya kloppenburgii in having ovate leaves as compared to lanceolate leaves.
2. Hoya kloppenburgii also has a positively geotropic inflorescence with a long peduncle and an umbel of flowers that is flat to slightly concave; however, there are many more flowers per umbel, up to 15–20, as against 4–11 in Hoya benchaii.
3. The basal part of the corolla in Hoya kloppenburgii is cream to pale yellow with white pubescent hairs, but pink and glabrous under the corona in Hoya benchaii. The bi-carpellate ovary in Hoya kloppenburgii is much more pointed, and longer, 2 mm compared to 1.6–1.8 mm in Hoya benchaii, based on the type description.

Above Hoya benchaii on the left and Hoya kloppenburgii on the right. I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have both of these flowering at the same time!

This plant is named for Ben Chai who collected the type material and at one time had a large collection of Hoya at his home in Sabah. Below the hard stiff leaves of Hoya benchaii:

Hoya benchaii was oiginally collected in Borneo, Malaysia, Sabah, east of Ranau, Telupid area and cultivated at Kipandi Park and vouchered on May 8, 2011.

It has been a very long road, but Hoya benchaii is finally flowered. Tomorrow I will begin discussing the plant; for now here is a teaser photo of the blooms:

I doubt I will ever have Hoya inflata looking this good again, so for posterity here are a few photos:

I usually find these flowers after they are fully open. This morning I happened to see them just as they were beginning to open.