I couldn't find an appropriate place to try to ID our errant Hoyas so...

This Hoya was given to me as an unrooted cutting 3 years ago. The lady who presented it to me handed it to me and said: There! Now you have to give me something.

What? Wait! What do you want? (said I). What she wanted was for me to divide one of my orchids for her pleasure. Didn't happen. She said she had the name at home but never gave it to me (probably withheld for ransom).

It has never bloomed. The leaves are small - compare to H. lacunosa and H. curtisii for size reference - and thick. Any thoughts?



Please add your "what the hecks" so we can all take wild and crazy guesses with you.

Hoya Serpens?
Whatever it is, it's absolutely adorable and I want one.

Wax Plant (Hoya serpens) is a cool little plant! I got a small cutting in trade years ago and put it in a terrarium where it really took off! Later, when I was rearranging stuff in the terrarium, I decided to move the cute Hoya serpens to a hanging basket. I hung it outside in the yard and that winter we had a freak freeze and it didn't survive.

I went out and starred at and cuddled my mystery Hoya. I wouldn't say the leaves are hairy or fuzzy or ... But I do see a periodic silver spot. The leaves are thick and seem heavy for such tiny things (dime sized).

The good news is I found a peduncle I assumed belonged to the Lacunosa is actually attached to this plant. I'm leaning towards H. serpens as that is the closest I've gotten but, flowers! That will end the mystery.

I noticed there aren't any flower photos in the DB.... Hopefully, I can fix that.

What a ninny that lady was! I am glad you withheld your orchid LOL. But that is a sweet hoya!

I have some unknowns. They all used to be knowns....all the tags are totally lost. I will take some photos and see if you guys can ID some of them. without blooms though unless it is a leaf that is distinguished in some way I think its pretty hard

Those leaves look so familiar to me; I went back looking through some of my old photos and it reminds me a bit of Wax Plant (Hoya brevialata) Maybe you will get blooms next summer at which time you will get an exact ID. Funny about the lady holding the name ransom, like she thought she'd get an orchid for a hoya!

Well ... forget my last post, your leaves don't look like H. bilobata, definitely not bilobata. I have so much trouble scrolling back and forth comparing pictures!

Don't you just love a good mystery? I look forward to when your plant blooms and reveals her identity!

I'm on the hunt for a Serpens now. I slayed the Linearis beast and now I'm moving on to Serpens.

If this thing gets too ungainly (and really is serpens), I'll share. But no promises. I did come up with an Etsy site selling cuttings while trying to ID mine.

The lady in question had picked out a particular orchid and I was supposed to dig it up and divide it for her. That would take a lot more bribing than a tiny un-named Hoya cutting. Some of my orchids, like Bulbophyllums, grow arms everywhere and I have cut pieces off and handed them to people but, she went a little too far.

I certainly won't hold you to it, but I'd be happy if yours happens to become ungainly and would gladly trade something that may be of interest to you. We'll just have to see what's in the Hoya cards

Edited to add: I had no idea you could divide orchids. Regardless, that lady sounds like she had some major and very presumptuous plant envy.

I have a "what the heck" question. It took me probably way too long to figure out (thanks to the database here, if I recall correctly 🤔) that Hoya Shepherdii is a synonym for Hoya longifolia. So now I'm stuck on wayetii and kentiana. I have a big EA Hoya from Walmart, tag was lost, and I always thought it was wayetii.



I also have this variegated version that was sold with no tag as well. Grabbed it on the dead rack for $4.50. I always thought they were the same plant, one with variegation and one without. So what's the correct name here?

Isn't the one with red edges on the leaves Wayettii? And the other is Longifolia/Shepherdii?


This is the bloom on my Longifolia.

Wax Plant (Hoya wayetii) and Wax Plant (Hoya kentiana) are two separate species but the leaves are of similar size and shape and I think the blooms are very similar as well. H. wayetii leaves will turn pink and reddish shades when grown in high light. The plant in my photo below was sun stressed from receiving too much direct sun.


The leaf coloration of your plant reminds me a lot of Wax Plant (Hoya kentiana 'Variegata')

From what I remember when I grew both, leaves of Wax Plant (Hoya shepherdii) were longer and a bit narrower than those of wayetii or kentiana.

Yes Lin I agree that my variegated plant looks most like the Hoya kentiana variegata. The new leaves come out deep purple and then reddish, then pinkish and then the yellow green variegated pattern.

I do see the very slight differences in the leaves of wayetii and kentiana when you put the photos next to each other like that. I think my green one is the same leaf shape as wayetii minus the reddish pink. Mine is in an east window and only gets a bit of direct morning sun.

Peggy, this is my plant that was sold as Shepherdii but I'm assuming is aka longifolia? The leaves are similar in shape to my unlabeled green Hoya, but sooooo much longer


Also, the vines and peduncles are actual bark, for lack of a better word. They're very woody and the other green one has green tender vines.

OK here are mine that I don;t know what they are. I think that they look just too 'not unusual enough' that without blooms it may be hard to get an ID.

I don't have a clue about this one, but, it does have a distinguishing feature...sooner or later all the leaves get those brown inclusions.(They aren't bugs). I have this growing in 2 separate places in the GH and it does the same thing in both locales. As you can tell from the leaves against my hand they are relatively large, but not overly succulent in spite of the fact that both the petioles and stems are thick.





This one has large somewhat thin leaves that have a definite more defined veining pattern. I was almost wondering if it is a non-variegated macrophylla. It loves to climb








This one also has a distinguishing feature...the leaves are actually albo-marginated, but its very very faint, not on every leaf, definitely not a bright white margination like others. The leaves on this can get quite large







And lastly I have a slightly speckled one. Its not publicalyx Splash or pink-silver. Although I suppose it could be another publicalyx hybrid. The leaves are a lot thicker, more succulent, get larger and have a more ellipsoid shape.

Gina. Do you have a list of the names they could be? May be we could play "pin the tail on the hoya."

Gina, #2 kinda, sorta reminds me of H. dasyantha. I sure wish I could help with ID's on all of those beauties but they don't look familiar to me. They all appear plenty mature enough to bloom; once they reach brighter light at the top of the greenhouse, you may see some amazing flowers but since many Hoyas have awesome fragrance, you may notice the fragrance before even seeing the blooms!

Magpie26 said:Gina. Do you have a list of the names they could be? May be we could play "pin the tail on the hoya."

Not anymore. I used to have a list but it was on my old computer that blew up.