The small but powerfully fragrant Hoya lacunosa

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As I passed by a group of ant plants and orchids one rainy morning, I caught a strong scent emanating from among the tangled vegetation of my humble plant collection and, almost obscured by one of the vandas, is a cluster of flowers from a plant of Hoya lacunosa, a plant that is frequently neglected and thrives on it. Indeed, with even the slightest care the longest stem has already passed the one-meter mark. Looking closely, I spotted several peduncles with developing buds. Some months ago, I also caught a whiff of its perfume and, seemingly forgetting which of my hoyas had such scent, it took me a few minutes to track down its source. You know you have lots of many different plants already when things like this happen. In quite a few occasions I get surprised to see a plant that I could not even recall how I got in the first place. At any rate, the scent of this species is among the strongest in the genus, relative to size.




 An old favorite, Hoya lacunosa was so named due to the depressions on the leaf, as the Latin word 'lacunosum' means exactly that- a depression. The leaves are variable in dimensions but always maintaining one general outline. In contrast to many other Hoya species, the stems dangle down, instead of creeping and twining around for support. However, roots produced from and near the nodes are ready to latch onto any substrate it comes in contact with.

Hoya lacunosa is known from a wide area, encompassing Borneo, Java, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Thailand. It also has been reported from the island of Luzon, but without specific localities.




This is one of the most common Hoya species in cultivation, and most larger collections are practically not without it. However, it still does hold a lot of charm in the same way a H. obscura does- it's uncomplicated in its care requirements, it mostly keeps to itself, the size is manageable, it blooms frequently, and of course, the flowers are strongly fragrant. If you are maintaining a Hoya collection and do not have this species, then that would be a mystery 😉




Comments

  1. Kris14 January 2019 at 09:39

    I had this hoya before but was not able to sustain it (i was unable to replace the medium). it is truly fragrant and i hope i could get hold of this specimen again :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jardinerong Sunog15 January 2019 at 15:29

      For some reason, this is a seldomly available plant in the Philippines. I remember when I saw one in a nursery in Quezon years ago, I was so disappointed that the owner had no propagation and thus had nothing to sell to me. It took years before someone pitied me and was gracious enough to give a cutting. lol

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