Tropicals & Tender Perennials: HOYA AUSTRALIS- a brief history, 0 by markroy68

markroy68 wrote:
VARIATIONS- There are many varieties of ssp. australis and ssp. tenuipies. Here are some of the most well known:

cv."Brookfield"- is a variety of ssp. australis with bronze new growth and larger flowers. It is sold by David Liddle from his Australian nursery.
cv."Mrs.G"- is distributed in America by a few dealers. It was published by Carol Noell, and is said by her to have a more compact and floriferous habit. A clone of ssp. australis.
cv."Lisa"- is a lovely variagated form with shades of pink, yellow, and several greens in complex patterns. New growth is often tinged purple. A sport of ssp. australis.
cv."variegata"- there are at least two variegated clones of ssp. australis, perhaps more.
ssp. australis from Kapoho- with huge leaves and good flowering habit is sold by Aloha Hoya.

There are many natural variations of ssp. australis. Leaf shades range from very dark green to pale olive to shades of yellow-green. Leaves may be small (1" x 1") large (up to 9" x 6") and may be glabrous or covered with fine hairs. Flowers vary somewhat less, ranging in size from 1/2" to nearly 1", and almost always being white with a stain of carmine under the corona (the carmine color is usually reduced on ssp. tenuipies). Some clones display more carmine markings on the corolla petals, a very few show a degree of pink blush on the corolla.
There is a hybrid of australis and BSI-1(syn. subcalva) produced by Ed Gilding. To my knowledge, he distributed seedlings of this cross to a number of sources. One offered by Aloha Hoyas is pictured in this post. Another clone is offered by Ted Green, this one is named Hoya X "pinkie". There have been speculations made by several experts that Hoya naumanii may be a naturally occuring hybrid of australis and BSI-1. It was collected around 1980 on gizo, near Bouganville. Australis and BSI-1 occur in the immediate region.
Availability of plants: Most subspecies are available through David Liddle at his australian nursery and Ted Green of Hawaii. Carol Noell of AlohaHoya (also in Hawaii) has several interesting forms of australis and may have other ssp. available in the future.
This photo is my own BSI-1 x australis, received from AlohaHoya.

Mark Randal,
with technical assistance from David Liddle