I was wandering around a few weeks back and took some photos of Hoya australis rupicola in habitat. They're very common in our sandstone escarpment country.
Hoya australis rupicola
Usually grow on rock ledges or in crevices. Or, as in the photo, amongst Drynaria quercifolia ferns.
Unfortunately no flowers yet, they don't normally start flowering until December.
While at it, got some cuttings and potted them up. Probably should have waited for the wet season, but I tend to be impatient.
It is always nice to see a Hoya in its native habitat. Thanks for posting.
Doug
That is so cool! How I'd love to someday walk around where Hoya's grow in their native habitat! Of course you'd have to hide any shears/scissors/clippers from me!
Ive been trying to get a start on rupicola for a few years now...not the easiest one to find a seller of. Nice to see it in its habitat
Dominic
Great photos, thanks for sharing. It is nice to see hoyas in habitat and how they actually grow. I am so envious!
Thanks again,
Mike
How cool is that, were the hoyas rooted in the rock?
what kind of medium did you put your cuttings?
A lot of sand and leaf litter catches on rock ledges and in crevises but it's usually shallow. The roots run through this and probably into cracks in the rock as well. Haven't seen them attach roots to the outer surfaces of rock.
Drynaria quercifolia are shield or nest ferns attached to the outer surfaces of rocks and collect sand and lots of organic matter. The Hoya roots do well in that. The ferns are dormant in the dry season.
My medium replicates that natural mix, fine sand and finely broken down organic matter. Now it's still the dry season so I've been giving it about a dessert spoon of water along the edge of the pot (not in the middle where the plant is) every 4 - 5 days or so. But I'll be away for about a month so have to put it where it's just in reach of the fine spray from sprinklers. Hopefully it will cope, the weather's warming up and we're coming into our storm time.
Well, blow me down...I just by chance Googled it after reading this, it was listed by Botonova and they have it in stock Ive ordered it.......yet another off my wish list..:))
Take it easy propmaker! You'll get to the end of your wish list and have nothing left to wish for. Wouldn't life be dull. ;O)
Ha,...no, its just been one of those elusive ones......some people stock it, but its always been too small for them to take cuttings from. Was just luck this thread prompted me to do a search again and I found one
Dominic
Tropic, thanks for the information. I have rupicola but it's not growing.
I am going to try to mix fine sand & organic matter, less water, hopefully help it grow.
Jan
How long does the dry season last for this particular Hoya in its native habitat?
This year the wet season abruptly ended early April but there was a 20mm storm early May. Generally it rains through into May. At the other end, sometimes there's a storm in September, mostly not. October is the time that isolated storms definitely move in. November is stormy as well, and our hottest month. December there's storms and usually the monsoon moves in towards the end. So usually no rain from mid May to mid September.
So your rainy period is during your winter when your day lengths are shorter and your tempratures lower?
In Australia summer is 1st December to 28th February, winter 1st June to 31st August. In Southern Australia they would have a climate similar to yours with winter maximum rains.
Ok
....ergo why Australian hoyas need to be grown dry in the winter...lots of water other times of the year!
so Australian winters are dry, and the summers are hot and wet?
Yes. All the the macgillivrayi, archboldiana, pottsii etc. need to be grown that way to flower...dennisii is another one.
Australia has a lot of climates, but where the Hoyas grow it's wet summers and drier winters. Where H australis ramicola/rupicola grow it's extreme. The others grow on the east coast where it can be a bit more humid during the winter, except macgillivrayi which is right up in the north east and has more distinct wet/dry seasons.
Next week I'll be where pottsii comes from. If I get time I'll keep an eye out for it in habitat. And any other ones if I come across them.
I saw a number of pottsii when I was in the Cairns area...in the forests....
Thanks Carol, I'll certainly keep my eyes open.
Ok, Im now sitting here with a nice cutting long enough to divide into 3 to root of ssp rupicola. Any particular way to do this one, or root it the same any Hoya?
Dominic
I suppose I'm still experimenting. But a very sandy mix with a little well broken down organic matter should be okay. Because they're almost like a succulent probably better to under rather than over water them.
I'm still away from home and don't kniow what mine are doing. Saw on the internet we had our first 2 storms for the season, September is unusual for rain but it can (obviously) happen. So ssp rupicola must be geared to cope with big downpours from this time of year here. But what they grow in drains very rapidly. Won't be back home for another 3 weeks roughly, will see how they're doing then.
Finally came back to my Hoya australis ssp rupicola and was pleased to find it was in excellent condition. When I'm out and about I'll have to keep a look out for any wild ones starting to develop flowers. It's getting to that time of year.
My cuttings too rooted easily and well.......so Im pleased
For anyone worried about not giving enough water to their Hoya australis ssp rupicola, here's a photo of plants in the wild this time of year. It's normally very hot now but it's been drier than normal. The leaves on the Hoya are curling right up and becoming wrinkled. Temperatures in the shade the last couple of months have consistently been between 36C and 40C, but a lot higher out in the sun amongst rocks where this one grows. When the rains come it will become good again, just part of it's normal cycle. That's why it's so easy to kill this one with kindness.
Another photo. No sign of peduncle formation on any of the plants I saw during last week. They might be waiting for some decent rain.
Does rupicola not retain its peduncles?
Thanks,
Mike
edited to correct spelling error
This message was edited Oct 28, 2009 2:46 PM
Mike, although I've seen the rupicola around for years (it's very common) I never took any close up interest. Just recently I've learned a lot more about Hoyas and have been looking closer. Last August I was checking out a lot of plants and only one had a peduncle. Last week none of the plants I found had any. I'd suspect in most cases the peduncle falls off during the dry season, but I'll see at the end of this season's flowering cycle.
Thanks, tb! Looking forward to your findings.
Mike
Our seemingly never ending dry season is just getting drier and hotter and the rains keep holding off. So most of the past week was spent fighting bushfires. But today was a bit different and I took the opportunity to visit a large local patch of Hoya australis ssp rupicola on a sandstone escarpment.
Temp was about 40C (in the shade) and for the Hoya sitting out on the rocks in the sun it was a lot more. You can see it's in full water conservation mode.
Carefully checking the patch (you never know whether it's one plant or many) revealed quite a few peduncles. There were also some peduncles that had fallen away but got hooked up in the plants and so were still quite obvious. It looks like the plants retain some peduncles and lose some.
What looked strange was a "double peduncle", seen here with a normal single one nearby.
Close up of the single peduncle.
Close up of the double peduncle.
