Hoya kerrii

Hoya kerrii
inflorescence and leaves
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Subfamily:	Asclepiadoideae
Tribe:	Marsdenieae
Genus:	Hoya
Species:	H. kerrii
Binomial name
Hoya kerrii Craib.
Synonyms[1]
Hoya obovata var. kerrii (Craib) Costantin

Hoya kerrii is a species of Hoya native to the south-east of Asia. Its eponymous collector is Arthur Francis George Kerr, British physician and botanist.

As the thick leaves are heart-shaped, the plant is sometimes named "Lucky-heart". In Europe, it is sold for Saint Valentine's Day.

Its origin area is South China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and the Indonesian island of Java.

Description

Hoya kerrii is a climbing plant that can grow up to 4 meters high (around 13 feet). Stems have a diameter of 7 mm. The leaves are 6 cm wide, 5 mm thick. Adult plants show inflorescences of 5 cm diameter and up to 25 flowers. They produce small balls of nectar, coloured red to brown. They smell only faintly or not at all.

Taxonomy

A specimen was collected by Arthur Francis George Kerr 1910 in or 1911 in the Doi Suthep mountains west of Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) at an altitude of 390 m above sea level. It was transplanted to Kew Gardens where it flowered in August 1911, and the species was first described by William Grant Craib from that plant and the wild collections in 1911.^[2]

Culture as housing plant

Garden centers sell young plants as a unique leaf a little bit thin heart-shaped planted in a pot. It stays unchanged during many months. Then it grows quickly : one meter by year.

• 
  Young plant, unchanged during 2 years
• 
  After growing of 20 months

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoya kerrii.