I thought that the last time I flowered Hoya stenophylla, it was only because it was dying and on the way out, but now remarkably my healthy, shaggy dog plant has another bud. This is a plant that very few people have flowered so I feel very fortunate to be among them!

There are at least 2 clones of Hoya undulata. One of them has much smoother edged leaves that is wider and somewhat shorter. The original one from Borneo has longer, wavier leaves, that get extremely red under good lighting. It is this original one that is so difficult for me to grow well. It is many times harder to grow than the smooth-edged clone. Anyhow, I have buds on the difficult to grow one that actually look pretty good. Pictured below:

I can highly recommend this wonderful Hoya, which should be readily available. Even without the striking flowers, the leaves are stunningly beautiful on this plant. Keep in mind to water this plant sparingly and don’t over light it and it should give you little trouble.

Here is a close-up on the flowers of Hoya Icensis:

The flowers on this Hoya are really striking! I have read that the blooms smell of licorice, but it is very light and not really too noticeable to me. The blooms only last about three or four days in the fully reflexed position.

I should also say that Hoya Icensis requires very little water. It stays moist for 2-3 weeks at a time after a watering. It is easy to develop root rot on this one. I finally got a peduncle that developed buds in November of last year (2022) and was really looking forward to the flowers.

This go around I kept the plant under less light than I had the first time trying to avoid the red spots that eventually turned into dead tissue. It seemed to work and the leaves were flawless this time with a much more healthy looking plant. The leaves of this Hoya are very succulent, and I would not be surprised if there is some Hoya pachylada in it. Below is a photo of the leaf showing the beautiful dark margins.

Hoya Icensis came to me in a trade with another grower here in Vermont in 2020. While it rooted quickly it was not a good grower and within a year developed some necrotic spots on a few leaves. I took cuttings of the part of the plant that still looked healthy and restarted it in coconut husk.

As near as I can gather from my limited time to scour the internet, Hoya Icensis was an accidental cross of unknown parentage in or near the AH Hoya Nursery in Thailand. It was originally called AH Seeds 023 and then was called Hoya cv. Patcharwalai. How and why it was then changed to Hoya Icensis, I have no idea, and anyone who knows the answer, please let me know!

This is a Hoya that I flowered some time ago, but it never made it to this site until now.