Not many people are familiar with Hoyas and what they actually look like. Some may have seen or chance upon them growing between and among shrubs and trees or along ridge tops or trail gaps, but would be often ignored due to the lack of a better knowledge about this plant. Yes, Hoya is no chocolate (in reference to the famous Goya sweets manufacturer); it is rather a juicy, porcelain-looking flowering plant.
Hoya is colloquially known as wax plant, wax vine, porcelain flower or gap plants and is considered as one of the most horticulturally interesting plants because of its profuse number of species (discovered and undiscovered). Also, due to its unique form, size, texture, and wide variety of its multi-colored blooms.
It belongs to the Apocynaceae family of tropical plants and was discovered by the Scotland-born botanist, Robert Brown (widely known for his Brown Movement). He named the plant after his friend, Thomas Hoy, an English botanist who worked as head gardener for the Duke of Northumberland in England. The word Hoya is the Latinization of Mr. Hoy’s surname.
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