I was given a hoya plant a few months ago, it is doing great so far, but I know little about this plant except what I could find on line, so I have a couple of questions. Can anyone ID my plant? is it more than one plant? as it has different colors. I noticed last week that it is going to bloom, the bud peduncle is very small, how long does it take to bloom?.

Looks like a H. carnosa variety, the blooms smell like chocolate to me. You are lucky to get a plant with a peduncle on it! I find that most hoyas don't require too much attention. I water about once a week, making sure they dry out in between waterings. A sunny window or grow light works well inside. Outside I would avoid direct sunlight for too long, it can burn the leaves. Welcome to the hoya world! They can get addictive

Hi Kim, thanks for answering.

From my research I kind of thought that it was a H. carnosa variety. How long before I can expect to see a bloom from that peduncle? Interesting that the blooms smell like chocolate, one might be tempted to snack on it. Looks like it could be a slow process before I get to see the bloom, especially since the weather here has been dark and gloomy many days this winter.

I agree, H. carnosa, possibly Krimson Queen Hoya (Hoya carnosa 'Tricolor') which has the light variegation on the outside leaf edges.

When I grew H. carnosa's, my plants always bloomed in the warmer months but I'd think with the right conditions they would bloom any time of the year and your plant looks very happy and healthy so you may see blooms in the next couple of months. Someone told me once that hoyas wouldn't bloom until the peduncle (bloom stalk) got fairly long but later I found that not to be true. Here's one of my database photos showing a Hoya carnosa blooming on a very small peduncle.

Hi Lin, thank you for that great photo with the names of the different parts of the bloom, I save your photo for future reference.

From the leaf colors and both Kim and you pretty much agreeing, I think I will go with the Krimson Queen, lovely name. Will the bloom color give a more positive ID, and should I wait for it to bloom before adding the plant to the database? Did your blooms smell like chocolate?

I read through most of the posts on this forum and noticed that it hadn't been active for awhile, I hope that changes and there is a little more activity with more great plant and bloom photos.

I've heard many say that flower scent is perceived differently by different individuals and I guess it's true because although I've heard many say that Hoya carnosa blooms smell like chocolate, I never detected much fragrance at all on any of my carnosa plants. I used to grow the beautiful Orchid Cactus Epiphyllum oxypetalum too, which is said to be highly fragrant and yet I could never detect that amazing perfume! I do have a very sensitive sense of smell with some plants and Hoya australis is one of my favorites for it's wonderful fragrance; one bloom will perfume an entire room! Years ago, I had a few baskets of Wax Plant (Hoya lacunosa) and brought them all indoors one winter when we were expected to have a freeze ... the fragrance was amazing but very overpowering and I ended up having to move the plants back to the porch!

Just remember, due to the fact that they attract nighttime pollinators like moths and other insects, Hoya fragrance is usually highest after dark ... so when your plant blooms, the fragrance should be most noticeable at night.

I have an excellent sense of smell and I love plants and blooms that have some fragrance, so I am hoping it has a good scent. I checked out Hoya lacunosa, cool plant, it has such cute fuzzy blooms. My plant will stay inside year round as the nights here are very cool even in summer.

The one that gets me with its scent is H. pubera. It blooms profusely every fall, and the scent in the house is almost overwhelming it is so strong. It's a nice scent, just really strong, like someone turned the air freshener on high power.

I checked the database but there are no photos, so I googled to check it out, looks small and dainty. Do you have any photos that you could add to the database? You can earn up to 5 acorns by adding 5 photos, one each of the stem, leaf, bud, bloom and the whole plant.

I agree, we need database photos for Wax Plant (Hoya pubera)

It was disappointing not to find photos when I checked out H pubera in the database, hopefully some will be added soon.

I think it's also called Wax Plant (Hoya nummularioides) . Sorry, I don't always stay up to date on the naming.

Wax Plant (Hoya pubera) and Wax Plant (Hoya nummularioides) are two different plants. I used to grow H. nummularioides and it had such fragrant little blooms!


Hoya picta is not a legitimate name; it's actually a synonym for Wax Plant (Hoya carnosa) and there's apparently a cultivar with the name Wax Plant (Hoya carnosa 'Picta')

Well, all I know is that when I search for one, they both come up. If they are different, I can't tell them apart. The picture you have here looks a lot like my plant. The leaves are a bit fuzzy. Blooms every fall like clockwork.

When I googled (Hoya carnosa 'Picta) it shows plants with small yellow blooms.

@plantladylin I just got another Hoya for valentines day from my DH, the only information on the sticker on the pot was 'Haya E' underneath that was'TR24'. I searched the database and the web, finally found what I think it may be, 'Hoya Exotic carnosa. What do you think, and any idea what the 'TR24' means???

It appears to be a variety of Hoya carnosa and might be 'Exotica' but it's difficult to know for sure if it was not labeled Hoya 'Exotica'. I'm not familiar with Hoya 'TR24'; that may just be a label the grower places on a plant before assigning a true cultivar name. Hopefully others more familiar with hoyas will be along soon to offer suggestions.

The rosy/pink colored stems and the white variegation being in the center of the leaves of your plant reminds me of Krimson Princess Hoya (Hoya carnosa 'Rubra')

For comparison, more photos of H. carnosa 'Rubra' can be viewed here: http://www.myhoyas.com/C/carno...

Thanks Lin, those were great links, I starred them for future reference, both plants look lovely and I will be happy with which ever it is, as long as it blooms.

Margaret, I forgot to say; I'd suggest you keep it in it's original pot ... you may see blooms this summer. Be on the lookout along the vine stems for things that resemble little "microphone's" or "spur's" (some people refer to them as bloom spurs) but the botanical name is Peduncle; it's where the flowers form. They may be tiny on young plants but they shouldn't be pruned off or you will never see any flowers.

This is an old photo of a solid green Hoya carnosa that I had years ago, where I annotted the flower parts:

Lin, that's a good photo of the Peduncle, thank you.

Sadly the peduncle that was on my other plant has dried up, I was very sad, I wanted to see some blooms, probably too cold, right now it can get very cold near the windows.