Hoja

The species belongs to the genus Hoya, and its leaves are fleshy with a waxy glossy surface, 3 to 5 centimetres wide and 3.5 to 13 centimetres long. It is a common house plant grown for its attractive waxy foliage. The shoots are faintly succulent and twine and climb.

The flowers are star-shaped and borne in clusters. They are typically light pink, but may vary from near-white to dark pink. The thick corollas look as if made from porcelain or from wax, which gave the plant its common names. The flowers may produce excess nectar that drips from them. A single flower has a diameter of 1.5 to 2 cm.

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Scent emission

Hoya carnosa flowers emit scent only at night. The timing of the five most abundant compounds emitted from the flowers is notably synchronized. Floral scent rhythms of H. carnosa were maintained under continuous light conditions. Its emissions were also able to maintain a circadian rhythm in continuous dark.

Flowering and cultivation

The plant flowers from spring to late summer. It can produce umbels of 10 to 50 small star-shaped flowers that mature gradually over 2 to 3 weeks on the same peduncle. Hoya carnosa prefers indirect bright light, but will tolerate much less. It can be propagated by air layering or by stem cuttings.

The genus and its cultivars

Hoya is a genus of over 500 species of plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, commonly known as waxflowers. Hoya carnosa has given rise to many cultivars that vary in foliage form or flower color. The cultivar 'Compacta' has folded, curled leaves and tight internodal spacing.