Hoya lamingtoniae

A mid-sized vine from the Oro Province in Papua New Guinea named after the wife of the then governor of Queensland. It had been labelled in the trade as PNG-4 for some time until the description was matched against a plant collected at foot of Mount Trafalgar and described in 1898 by botanist F.M. Bailey* . At that time, he mentioned that it was "one of the most beautiful of the genus and should be introduced into garden culture." In terms of robustness, ease of growth and size/ fullness of the umbel, it is certainly not a match for the more commonly encountered H. pubicalyx, which also has flaming red flowers but much thicker leaves and stems. Its charms lies in its relative rarity in the garden (snob appeal ?), less weedy growth and the 4-veined leaves.

* Queensland Agriculture Journal, V3, p156