Hoya macrophylla, I believe

This is not a gardening blog, just so it's clear. It's just that I have an affinity to plants and I also love stories which doubles the attraction to botanical stories, especially those of the victorian era. You know, battling thick jungles, malaria, crazy weather and possibly angry cannibals to find a gem of an Orchid. But that is a story for another day. Today I happened to spy a Hoya in bloom and I'm going to share cos it's pretty!

There has been alot of confusion between what is Hoya latifolia (lati: broad, folia: leave) and Hoya macrophylla (macro: large, phylla: leave) all this due to 2 distinguished botanist, Dr. Carl Ludwig Blume (German-Dutch) and Dr. Robert Wight (English-Scot) giving the same name (Hoya macrophylla) to 2 very different Hoya that they discovered in the course of their work. Blume named his Javan Hoya (the original Hoya macrophylla Blume) in 1826 after its characteristic large leaves. Unfortunately for Wight, his Indian Hoya was only named 8 years after Blume published, so that was all too bad, but he didn't actually know! (Because Blume published in a Dutch journal that Wight didn't lay eyes on) SO Wight went right ahead and published his Hoya macrophylla in Contributions to the Botany of India in 1834. This discrepancy went un-noticed for years and only 1837 when, Geroge Don (Scottish Botanist) decided to translate the works of Wight from Latin to English did he realise that Hoya macrophylla R.Wight was nothing like Hoya macrophylla CL.Blume, and so Hoya latifolia G.Don was born i.e. synonymous with Hoya macrophylla R. Wight. That's cos plants unlike people cannot bear the same name under the Linnean system.

So what is my Hoya? I'm pretty sure it's Hoya macrophylla Blume... I think :p

Just for scale, the largest leaf on that plant is the length of my palm! And I have long fingers!

Muted pink beauties! I noticed that their scent is strongest during dusk and most days there are plenty of ants lurking around the open blooms. Total, absolute 'Ugh'. However, I took the shot after a good downpour, so no ants! Yay!

And here we see how this plant has escaped the boundaries of the net into the open sunshine!