1438

 

Hoya multiflora Blume

Synonym	:	Asclepias stellata Burm. ex Decne.
Family	:	Apocynaceae
Local name	:	English- Shooting Star Hoya
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Flowers from early spring to late summer. Fruiting in autumn.
Distribution	:	China, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Laos, Myanmar Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, peninsular Malaysia, India
Habitat	:	Semi-parasitic epiphyte that grows among open bushes and tree over a ranges of altitudes (500 to 1200) meters.
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Used as an ornamental plant
Key botanical characters:  A Climbing plant to 2.5 m tall, but more often has a compact, upright, shrubby growth less than 80 cm tall. Plants, glabrous.  Leaves, rather coriaceous, 8-16 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, oblong or oblong lanceolate, sometimes narrowly so, occasionally broadest above the middle, with visible obscure veins, tip pointed, base usually tapered or wedge-shaped, glabrous, tough and leathery (papery when dried), bright green, often blotched white, paler beneath.Petiole,1-2 cm long. Inflorescences (umbels): Terminal, or extra-axillary, hemispherical, with up to 40 flowers, hanging and facing the ground, convex. Peduncle 1.5-5 cm. Flowers: The flowers are about c. 16-20 mm long, strongly scented, rocket like and producing lots of nectar. They have a vague lemon like smell especially late at night or early in the morning. Pedicel 3.5-7 cm long. Sepals ovate, ca. 2.5 × 1.7 mm; glands many, linear. Corolla campanulate angular limb ca. 6 mm, throat white bearded at the base. Corolla-lobes oblong-triangular, ca. 12 x 8 mm, creamy white to straw-yellow with orange tips, strongly folded back, a few clones have more orange flowers. Corona on distinct stalk, white, prominent, with 5 with corona segments narrowly lanceolate, yellow, 8-9 mm long, quite entire with the inner angles acuminate ascending, higher than stigma head, each lobe with a pointed tooth at its base. Fruits, Slender, linear-lanceolate in outline, 12-20 cm long. Seeds: Ovate, ca. 4 × 2 mm. Parachute typed with a plume (coma) to 5 cm long dispersed by wind.