Hoya (plant)

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Hoya
Hoyabella 092005.jpg
Hoya lanceolata subsp. bella
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Marsdenieae
Genus: Hoya
R.Br. [1]
Species

See List of Hoya species

Synonyms [1]
Hoya carnosa Hoya carnosa - flower view 01.jpg
Hoya carnosa
Hoya mindorensis, Sydney, Australia. Hoya mindorensis 2024.jpg
Hoya mindorensis , Sydney, Australia.

Hoya is a genus of over 500 species of plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, commonly known as waxflowers. [2] Plants in the genus Hoya are mostly epithytic or lithophytic vines, rarely subshrubs, with leathery, fleshy or succulent leaves, shortly tube-shaped or bell-shaped flowers with five horizontally spreading lobes, the flowers in umbels or racemes, and spindle-shaped or cylindrical to oval follicles containing flattened egg-shaped to oblong seeds. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Description

Plants in the genus Hoya are mostly epithytic or lithophytic vines that rarely form roots in the ground, or rarely more or less shrubby. They have creeping or climbing, pendent, left-twining stems, with white latex, and sometimes with adventitious roots. The stems are cylindrical in cross section, and more or less sparsely branched. The leaves are leathery, often fleshy or succulent, elliptic, egg-shaped, rhomboid or lance-shaped, may be glabrous or hairy, and usually have a petiole. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The flowers are often fleshy or waxy, arranged in umbels or racemes on a peduncle between the leaves, the peduncle usually persisting from year to year. The petals are wheel-shaped or tube-shaped, with five fleshy, more or less jug-shaped, horizontally spreading lobes attached to the staminal column, and forming a prominent ring alternating with the petal lobes. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The fruit is a spindle-shaped to oval follicle containing flattened, egg-shaped to oblong seeds with a tuft of hairs at one end. [2] [4] [5]

Taxonomy

The genus was first formally described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown in his book Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen , [7] and honours Thomas Hoy, the gardener for the Duke of Northumberland. [2] The first species of Hoya that Brown described (the type species), was Hoya carnosa . [7]

Species list

Use in horticulture

Many species of Hoya are popular houseplants in temperate areas (especially H. carnosa ), grown for their attractive foliage and strongly scented flowers. Numerous cultivars have been selected for different leaf forms or flower colours. Hoyas grow well indoors, preferring bright light, but will tolerate fairly low light levels, although they may not flower without bright light. Hoyas commonly sold in nurseries as houseplants include cultivars of H. carnosa (Krimson Queen, Hindu Rope − compacta), H. pubicalyx (often mislabelled as H. carnosa or H. purpurea-fusca), and H. kerrii . Hoyas are easy to propagate, and are commonly sold as cuttings, either rooted or unrooted, or as a potted plant.[ citation needed ]

Hoya carnosa has been shown in recent studies at the University of Georgia to be an excellent remover of pollutants in the indoor environment. [8]

Various cultures have used hoyas medicinally, especially Polynesian cultures.[ citation needed ] Some are toxic to livestock and sheep poisonings in Australia are reported.[ citation needed ]

Several Hoya species and cultivars are excellent terrarium plants.[ citation needed ]

Rachel Colette Conroy was appointed the International Cultivar Registration Authority for Hoya in 2023. [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ceropegia</i> Genus of plants

Ceropegia is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae, native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in his Genera plantarum, which appeared in 1737. Linnaeus referred to the description and picture of a plant in the Horti Malabarici as the plant for which the genus was created. In 1753 he named this species as Ceropegia candelabrum. Linnaeus did not explain the etymology but later explanations stated that the name Ceropegia was from the Greek word keropegion κηροπηγɩον. This means candelabrum in Latin, which has a broader range than the modern word - "a candlestick, a branched candlestick, a chandelier, candelabrum, or also lamp-stand, light-stand, sometimes of exquisite workmanship".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houseplant</span> Ornamental plant in a home or office

A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are usually tropical or semi-tropical, and are often epiphytes, succulents or cacti.

<i>Tradescantia pallida</i> Species of flowering plant

Tradescantia pallida is a species of spiderwort native to the Gulf Coast region of eastern Mexico. It is a perennial herbaceous species with a trailing habit. The cultivar T. pallida 'Purpurea', commonly called purple heart or purple queen, is widely grown as a houseplant, outdoor container plant, or a garden groundcover. The species has been proven useful in indicating and removing air and soil pollutants and has also been used in food technology.

<i>Cryptocarya</i> Genus of flowering plants

Cryptocarya is a genus of about 360 species of flowering plants in the laurel family, Lauraceae. Most species are trees, occasionally shrubs, distributed through the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Most plants in the genus Cryptocarya have leaves arranged alternately along the stems, small flowers with 6 tepals, stamens in 2 rows, the inner row alternating with staminodes, and the fruit is a drupe.

<i>Hoya carnosa</i> Species of plant

Hoya carnosa, the porcelainflower or wax plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to East Asia. It is a common house plant grown for its attractive waxy foliage, and sweetly scented flowers. It is grown well in pots and hanging baskets.

<i>Fatsia japonica</i> Species of plant

Fatsia japonica, also fatsi, paperplant, false castor oil plant, or Japanese aralia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae, native to southern Japan and southern Korea.

<i>Eremophila glabra</i> Species of plant

Eremophila glabra, commonly known as tar bush, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is sometimes a low, ground-hugging and sometimes an erect shrub. The leaves are variable in size and shape and there is a range of flower colours. In spite of its scientific name, not all forms of the plant are glabrous but most have many small, raised glands on the stems, flowers and leaves.

<i>Hoya australis</i> Species of plant

Hoya australis, commonly known as waxflower or common hoya, is a species of flowering plant in the Apocynaceae or dogbane family and is native to northern and eastern Australia, Papuasia and Melanesia. It is a succulent vine or subshrub with fleshy or leathery, elliptic, oblong, egg-shaped or more or less round leaves, racemes of fleshy, cream-coloured and red flowers, and spindle-shaped follicles. It is a popular garden plant, noted for its fragrant flowers.

<i>Phalaenopsis amabilis</i> Species of orchid

Phalaenopsis amabilis, commonly known as the moon orchid, moth orchid, or mariposa orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It is widely cultivated as a decorative houseplant. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with long, thick roots, between two and eight thick, fleshy leaves with their bases hiding the stem and nearly flat, white, long-lasting flowers on a branching flowering stem with up to ten flowers on each branch.

<i>Hoya meliflua</i> Species of plant in the family Apocynaceae

Hoya meliflua is a species of vine in the Apocynaceae family. It is endemic to the Philippines. The vine is common to Apayao, La Union, Rizal, Bataan, Laguna, Mindoro, Palawan, Negros, Panay, and Leyte.

<i>Lissanthe</i> Genus of shrubs

Lissanthe is a genus of about 10 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Lissanthe are small, erect to spreading shrubs with egg-shaped to oblong leaves. Up to 17 bisexual flowers are arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of branches, the 5 petals joined at the base to form a cylindrical to urn-shaped tube with triangular lobes.

<i>Sarcochilus falcatus</i> Species of orchid

Sarcochilus falcatus, commonly known as the orange blossom orchid, is a small epiphytic or lithophytic orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has up to eight, leathery leaves with fine teeth on the edges and up to twelve white to cream-coloured flowers with a white labellum that has orange and purple markings.

<i>Codonanthe</i> Genus of epiphytes grown as houseplants

Codonanthe is a genus of mainly epiphytic plants in the family Gesneriaceae, endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The botanical name comes from the Ancient Greek for 'bellflower'. They have white or pale pink flowers and somewhat fleshy leaves. In 2013, the genus was reduced in size when more than half of the species were transferred to Codonanthopsis. They can be grown as houseplants, particularly in hanging baskets. Artificial crosses with Nematanthus hybrids have produced the hybrid genus × Codonatanthus.

<i>Pimelea pauciflora</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea pauciflora, commonly known as poison rice-flower, is a species of shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae. It has small yellow-lime flowers and green, smooth fleshy leaves, and is endemic to Eastern Australia.

Dendrobium rigidum, commonly known as the smooth tongue orchid or smooth tick orchid, is a species of orchid native to tropical North Queensland and to New Guinea. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid with wiry, hanging stems, fleshy, dark green leaves and flowering stems with between two and seven crowded, cream-coloured, star-shaped flowers often with pink or red on the back. It grows on trees, shrubs and rocks in a paperbark swamps and rainforest.

<i>Hoya bilobata</i> Species of plant

Hoya bilobata, commonly known as wax plant or porcelain flower, is a smaller species of the genus Hoya native to the Philippines. Hoya bilobata is just one of over 200 species of the genus Hoya.

<i>Hoya bella</i> Species of flowering plant

Hoya bella, the beautiful hoya, waxflower or pretty waxflower, is a species of tropical epiphyte with trailing stems, slightly succulent leaves and pendant umbels of fragrant, white and purple flowers. It is an asclepiad in the periwinkle and milkweed family, Apocynaceae.

<i>Hoya pubicalyx</i> Species of plant

Hoya pubicalyx is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hoya native to the Philippines. Sometimes confused for Hoya carnosa, it has succulent, lanceolate foliage and grows in a vining habit epiphytically. Kept as a houseplant in temperate climates, it can be found in variegated forms in nurseries. The Philippine five-centavo coin of the New Generation Currency Series features the flowers of this plant.

<i>Leucopogon glabellus</i> Species of shrub

Leucopogon glabellus is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, glabrous shrub with slender branchlets, heart-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, and cylindrical spikes of white flowers.

<i>Hoya anulata</i> Species of plant

Hoya anulata is a species of flowering plant in the Apocynaceae or dogbane family and is endemic to Cape York and parts of Southeast Asia. It is a epiphytic or lithophytic vine with fleshy, egg-shaped leaves, fleshy pale pink and white flowers, and spindle-shaped follicles.

References

  1. 1 2 "Hoya". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Forster, Paul Irwin; Liddle, David J. "Hoya". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Harden, Gwen J.; Williams, John B. "Genus Hoya". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Hoya". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Albers, Focke; Meve, Ulrich, eds. (2004). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Vol. 4. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 147–148. ISBN   978-3-540-41964-8 . Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Hoya". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  7. 1 2 Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. London: Typis R Taylor, veneunt apud J. Johnson. pp. 459–460. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  8. "UGA research shows some plants can remove indoor pollutants". University of Georgia. UGA Today. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  9. "ICRA Report Sheet". International Society for Horticultural Science. Retrieved 12 October 2023.

Bibliography