It’s another deep dive, this time on Hoya latifolia & macrophylla! You may have been or are still confused on which Hoya are actually considered latifolia or macrophylla. With more collectors learning about synonymizations of Hoya, this species is one that continues to cause confusion. But was this Hoya truly synonymized or reclassified? Or has it been a major mixup perpetuating for centuries? Wait until you hear what we found out! Join your hosts Lydia, Jessi and Adam as we talk all things latifolia & macrophylla!
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Episode 26: Let's Talk Hoya latifolia & macrophylla
THINGS FROM THE EPISODE
One of the biggest label changes (arguably that we have seen since we have been collecting) is what we incorrectly believed to be the synonymization of macrophylla into latifolia.
BUT this is not a recent reclassification or synonymization that has happened, it has been a mislabel that has perpetuated in trade for the last 200 years!
pc: courtesy of Pattamate from A Hoya Study Corner by SC Plants (FB), 2021
So, what happened?
(A huge shoutout to Rachel Colette Conroy for clarifying some of this information for us!)
To start, we must distinguish between Hoya macrophylla Blume and macrophylla Wight.
Hoya macrophylla Blume was a species published by Carl Blume in 1827.
Hoya macrophylla Wight was a species published by Robert Wight in 1834, not realizing that this was already a name in existence.
With only one of each name being able to exist per denomination class, it made H. macrophylla Wight’s publication invalid by priority of Blume’s earlier publication.
As soon as George Don caught that there was an issue with the publication by Robert Wight, it was rewritten under a valid name, that we know today based on Wight’s original type sheet: latifolia G. Don.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: This does not mean what was published by Wight and Blume were the same species, rather, that the same names were used for two different species. Macrophlla does exist as a separate species, rather, the INCORRECT name for latifolia has circulated and remained incorrect under the wrong name.
So, which Hoya are actually Hoya latifolia?
The following Hoya were never macrophylla, but incorrectly labeled and are latifolia.
- sp. Sarawak (clones collected in Sarawak identified as latifolia)
- What we have known as macrophylla has always been latifolia. For example: Hoya latifolia ‘Pot of Gold’, H. latifolia ‘Snow Queen’, etc.
- Hoya Sulawesi GPS 8867
- Hoya aff. Clandestina IML 1590
- Another Hoya that falls under latifolia is Hoya polystachya published by Carl Blume in 1849
pc: courtesy of Pattamate from A Hoya Study Corner by SC Plants (FB), 2019
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