Skip to main content

Wax flower (Hoya lacunosa)

Wax flower (Hoya lacunosa) is a plant species in Apocynaceae, epiphytic, gummy, round stem, segmented, up to 3 meters long, slightly woody, grows twisted or hanging or attached to tree bark with short roots and very firmly attached.

H. lacunosa has leaves with three different shapes, including heart-shaped, green, 2-2.5 cm long, 3 mm thick, 1-2 cm wide, a wavy surface between the leaf bones, flat edges, pointed and protruding tips. The leaves contain a white sap or liquid.

Dlium Wax flower (Hoya lacunosa)


A single root, minimalistic and not branched, arises from the stem and does not gather at a single point, is small and short, is brown and is tightly attached to the bark of the host tree and there are usually colonies of black ants.

Compound flowers arranged in bunches. The petals, crown and corona are five each. The corona is an additional crown. The reproductive organs consist of the pistil and stamens which are arranged in the gynostemium. The extended stigma is rectangular and in the center of the corona.

The stamens compact and form the pollinia structure. Each bud has five pairs of pollinia. The pollinia structure consists of a corpusculum and translator apparatus. Flowers have a fragrance and contain a lot of honey which ants, butterflies, bees and birds are very fond of.

Each bunch blossoms for a period of time, but it rarely produces fruit. Most flowers are in November. The flower formation stage to anthesis is 4-5 weeks and fruit development from pollination to breaking is 4-6 weeks.



Wax flower can grow and produce flowers at a temperature of 27C, humidity 70-84%, light intensity 9.28-13.28 MJ/m2/day and rainfall 55-550 mm. Flowering lasts for most of the year, alternated by two months.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Marsdenieae
Genus: Hoya
Species: Hoya lacunosa

Popular Posts

Yellow garden spider (Argiope appensa)

Yellow garden spider ( Argiope appensa ) is a species of spider in Araneidae that lives on the coast to forests on islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Black and yellow females are striking and have a length of 5.1-6.4 cm including long legs, while males are brown and have a length of about 1.9 cm. A. appensa lives on cliffs in the hills at 600 m above sea level in Kewu plain to rice fields in the lowlands. They make nests at a height of 1.5 meters from the ground between teak ( Tectona grandis ), sonokeling ( Dalbergia latifolia ), sonosiso ( Dalbergia sissoo ), crown flower ( Calotropis gigantea ) and various grasses. Yellow garden spiders grow in large sizes, but are not toxic to humans. Advanced builds ball-shaped nets and most of them make stabilizers which are zigzag-shaped lines in nets made of thicker bands. This species spends more time in stationary and sits in the middle of the net with its head down to wait for insects to be entangled in fine silk thread. Unli...

Skyflower (Duranta erecta)

Sinyo nakal or skyflower ( Duranta erecta ) is plant species in Verbenaceae, a broad shrub or small tree, up to 6 m high, stems growing upright or horizontally with broad clumps, many branches, bark light brown, old tree has axillary spines and grows to form dense colonies. D. erecta has bright green leaves, elliptical to ovoid, pointed or rounded ends, sitting opposite, 7.5 cm long, 3.5 cm wide, a main vein in the middle with several small lateral veins, petiole long 1.5 cm. Flowers are light blue or lavender or white, appear in tight clusters as on terminal stems and axils, often curled or pendulous, blooms in summer. The fruit is a berry having a stalk, small round, yellow or orange or white in color, up to 11 mm in diameter, an eye green in front and containing several seeds. Skyflower grows in dry or humid areas and lots of sun, rocky or sandy beaches, forests, farmland and disturbed places. Plants will grow at a rate of up to half a meter per year. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum:...

Hengduan adder's-tongue (Whittieria hengduanensis) from eastern Himalayas similar to the American Whittieria engelmannii

NEWS - Hengduan adder's-tongue ( Whittieria hengduanensis Z.L.Liang & Li Bing Zhang, sp. nov.) from Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan, Southwest China (eastern Himalayas) shows that the genus has members that are intercontinentally separated between the Himalayas and America, a unique pattern that has not been documented in the literature. Ophioglossaceae is divided into 4 subfamilies and 15 genera. The seven recognized genera within Ophioglossoideae are Cheiroglossa C. Presl.; Goswamia Li Bing Zhang & Liang Zhang; Haukia Li Bing Zhang & Liang Zhang; Ophioderma (Blume) Endl.; Ophioglossum L.; Rhizoglossum C. Presl; and Whittieria Li Bing Zhang & Liang Zhang. During field trips in western Sichuan and southeastern Xizang in 2021, the researchers collected several species from several locations. This species has pronounced complex reticulate venation, similar to the American W. engelmannii , but is about 8000 km away from the latter species' distribution in aerial dista...