Hi everyone!
Are Hoya vaccinoides and Hoya wee-bella the same? If not, what are the differences between them? If they are the same, which name should be used?
Fia
Hoya vaccinoides and Hoya wee-bella
I don't know the answer to the question, Fia...but I think that it is H. bella and 'wee-bella' is a nickname....
No, the H. weebella that I mean is not the same as H. bella. H. weebella has smaller leaves, even though the flowers look very much alike. Here is a link to a photo: http://www.sitascorner.se/weebellas.htm
It's the info on both H. weebella and H. vaccinoides on www.asiaticanursery.com that confuses me.
Fia
Fia, from what I understand Hoya weebella is not a legitimate publication. According to Burton, this species was published in 1994 under two names, H. kingdonwardii and H. dickasoniana by P.T. Li. Burton also states that the plant known as H. weebella is identical to bella except for the smaller size of the flowers and leaves, so it may actually be just a variant of the species Hoya bella. She had this to say on the MSN forum-
"Photomicroscopic pictures of the "wee bella" flower parts are identical to those of all other clones of H. bella that I've seen, except for size. There is no doubt in my mind that it is Hoya bella (or, if you subscribe to the published synonymy, Hoya lanceolata subsp. bella)"
This plant was originally though to be H. vaccinoides, but apparently did not match the type sheet of that species.
Fia, I just looked at the Asiatica site- They have never been known for their labeling accuracy, but the text in the H. weebella description lets us know that they are at least trying! You can't really blame them- Hoya taxonomy is quite confusing, and the materials you need to get the whole story (as near as we know it) are sometimes very hard to find. Species vary (sometimes a lot) in their leaf and flower color and size, and other traits. I think it would be less confusing to publish such closely related plants as subspecies or forms, for example, the one we're discussing might have been called "Hoya bella ssp. kingdonwardii" or the "weebella form of H. bella". Oh well...
I am so confused... as always when it comes to Hoya names.
I think it would be easier too to call it for instance "Hoya bella ssp. kingdonwardii" as you suggested. I am trying to purchase this Hoya, but I can't call it Hoya bella because I would get the one with the bigger leaves. So I guess I will have to still call it Hoya weebella so that people will know what I mean, since it seems to be the most common name it's known under. I don't care if it's a clone, a species or a subspecies, I just want a name so that everybody knows which Hoya I'm talking about. That sounded a bit grumpy, but the correct name isn't that important to me, I just like the pretty flowers and leaves.
Fia
I have heard it called: H. bella - the weebella one. Anyone who grows it will know what that means!
Carol
Doesn't the wee one also have a distinct thing about 3 leaves in some places or something like that?
Marcy
H. bella is the regular one. Weebella has much smaller leaves and smaller flowers. Sorry, but not all growers are going to call all clones of a plant by the same name. Human nature. I guess the correct name isn't that important to them either.
Marcy, it is supposed to usually have three leaves per node.
I've only seen pictures of this one, but it appears to not branch as much as bella, and develops very long single stems.
Well, I did have it, but lost it. I THOUGHT it had 3 leaves at the nodes. It definately has MUCH tinier leaves and stems than the regular ones. It really isn't harder to keep, I just had it in a bad spot and got negectful of it last winter.
Marcy
Mine branches where it is cut. Today I will count the leaves at the node. It kinda looks like a little branch of a pine tree!!!!
YES!!! Every node has 3 leaves...just darling!!!
Carol
Carol, how about a photo? And does it only bloom at the ends of the branches?
OK...photo tomorrow. I will TRY to get DH to take it with his good talent and camera...
I don't know about blooms...I haven't had any yet. Yes...had one cutting...became two cuttings...became 4 cuttings...and they grew long and ...well, long. Recently had enough to make a full plump pot!
Carol
Hi, All.
Chris Burton has kindly posted this excellent information on her MSN chat group Hoyas R Us. I thought, since she has looked into this issue on our behalf, I would go ahead and post some of the information here. To read her entire post feel free to look for it under the thread title "General : What is "Wee Bella?"
"This is a varietas (variety in Latin) of Hoya bella."
"Its flowers differ not one iota from those of Hoya bella except for size. They are smaller."
"At that time, Chanin wrote an article in The Hoyan, (vol. 15, #2, page 29), describing it. There was illustrated by a picture on the cover of that issue. I labeled the picture on the cover "wee bella" -- as a nickname only to distinguish it from other clones of it."
"Before this hoya bloomed Chanin asked me what I thought it was. I searched high and low and could find only one hoya description that fit. That was one of J. D. Hooker's hoyas which he named Hoya vaccinioides. Neither Chanin nor I ever told anyone that this plant was that sepecies. We sent cuttings of it to Douglas Kent and asked him to compare it to Hooker's type at Kew. Douglas did and wrote back that it was not that species."
"As soon as Chanin's article with the 4 specimens shown in the following column and the following page, Prof. P. T. Li, of China, with the help of a couple of men from the Missouri Botanical Garden, got into the act. Prof. Li, decided that all four of those specimens were new species and he published 2 of them in Journal of South China Agricultural University (vol. 15, issue 2 in 1994 as Hoya dichasoniana and Hoya kingdonwardii."
"I have since that time concluded that the one he published as Hoya kingonwardii is Hoya lanceolata and the one he published as Hoya dickasoniana is this same species which is NOT weebella but just another clone of Hoya bella."
"So, another trip to Harvard where I saw that Kindonwardii in the Arnold Arboretum collection was made. What I saw convinced me that Kindon-Ward's specimen was the same species that others in US bloomed as Hoya lanceolata."
"However, the one that sometimes has three and sometimes has 2 leaves per node is Hoya bella."
"I have seen and grown at least six different clones of Hoya bella. Some have leaves less than a half inch long and some have leaves as long as 3.50 inches. I've seen them with several sizes inbetween those extremes. The longest one even has wavy leaf margins. All have identical flowers except for the size of the flowers. What's more some of the flowers on a single branch of a single clone, have flowers of varying sizes."
"You do NOT have a species named Hoya weebella or a hoya named Hoya vaccinioides. What you have is a very nice small growing clone of Hoya bella (synonym, Hoya weebella, Kloppenb., Hoya dickasoniana P. T. Li, Hoya vaccinioides hort and Hoya vacciniflora hort.)."
Again, a big thank you to Ms. Burton for such wonderful and helpful information!!!
Best,
Ann
Edited to say that everything in quotes is from Chris Burton and her above-referenced post on her MSN forum, which you can access via this link: http://groups.msn.com/HoyasRUs/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2455&LastModified=4675584763772252930
This message was edited Aug 11, 2006 4:39 PM
OOoops...forgot the photo....tomorrow...honest...I promise! And...HEY...one node even had 4 little leaves...and some only had two so I quess it is 'whatever'....still is cute!!!
OK...here is my little plant....
