Hoya bella Hook.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘The most lovely of all the Hoyas, to which a figure (as in the case of most flowers with much white) is little calculated to do justice.  It cannot be called a climber, but the branches are diffuse, copiously leafy, so that the leaves (unlike those in H. carnosa) form a dark back-ground to the delicate umbels of flowers, with leaves in shape resembling those of a Myrtle, and flowers more lively and differently formed from those of Hoya carnosa, and most deliciously scented.  The corolla is a purer white, and the corona a deeper purple: resembling an amethyst set in frosted silver.  It is a native of the Taung Kola mountain, Moulmein, and has been imported, through their collector, Mr. Thomas Lobb, by Messrs. Veitch and Sons of Exeter, where treated like an Aeschynanthus, or an epiphyte, we had the pleasure of seeing this “first gem of the air” blossoming in great perfection, in June, 1848.  It is a free bloomer, and the flowers last many days in high beauty.’  [BM t.4402/1848]. 

Flore des Serres figures it and desribes it growing in a hanging basket.  [FS f. 399/1848 and misc.201/1849].  FC p.121/1849.

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1850 and 1857 catalogues .  Obtained from Veitch’s Nursery, brought out from England by Captain P. P. King in 1849.  Believed by Macarthur to be a new introduction at that time.  [ML A1980-3].

Notes