The little discussion on Stephanotis recently and my looking around got me wondering how am I going to ID an unlabeled Stephanotis, or odd Hoya species?
I was just in a department store which is known for its unlabeled plants. And here was a whole bunch of Hoyaesque plants. If one was a Stephanotis, I would not have known. There were others labelled as Aeschynanthus, which I am also familar with, and I also see as similar.
Looking at all these plants had me wondering if there where reliable ways to tell non-flowering plants apart. Are there any good methods? It seems that flower scars would lead to clues, as the flowers are different, especially with Aeschynanthus.
I have had just enough botany to be dangerous, and have noticed that all three genera are opposite leaved. Sigh.
Identifying Hoyas, Stephanotis and other vines
To tell the difference between Stephanotis and Hoya is VERY difficult. I had a Steph. in my collection for years as NOID Hoya before Ed Gilding pointed it out. The Steph.s' leaves are unlike 99% of hoyas, I think. Closest resemble H. imperialis but 'not quite'.... Even in the bush, without know what you may be looking for, it is difficult to determine that something IS a hoya and not something else...that is why so many plants are collected and bloomed out.
To me the Aeschynanthus has a certain way the leaf sits on the vine...or the coloration of the leaf.
Mark?????
Funny, Carol, I was thinking about this all morning and came on to post about it just now.
AnalogDog, I am not sure there is any easy, sure-fire way to tell them apart without flowers. I don't know much about Aeschynanthus- maybe you or someone else here that grows them could tell me- do they have persistent peduncles? I wasn't sure they had peduncles at all, but looked it up today and saw that they do. Does anyone know if they drop off after flowering or remain on the plant and produce flowers over and over?
If Aeschynanthus drop their peduncles after flowering you could tell if a plant were NOT one if there were non-flowering peduncles on older growth.
Some Aeschynanthus look so much like Acanthostemma Hoya like H. wayetii and H. heuschkeliana, like you said it's really hard to tell the difference from the leaves/stems, and many Dischidia can look just like Aeschynanthus too.
It looks like Aeschynanthus mostly have very small peduncles, so that could be a clue even if their peduncles are persistent, like Hoyas. But then, H. heuschkeliana has very small peduncles too.
I agree with Carol, after looking at Aeschynanthus a lot in the nurseries there is something about the leaf set that gives the more common ones away.
The Stephanotis is easier- there is only one species of it (floribunda) that is common in commerce (at least in CA), and maybe only one clone. Once you get used to seeing it, you can usually spot it from the leaf shape/texture/color.
Imperialis, only one clone? The plants I have of the H. imperialis from Palawan have a much flatter leaf and they tend to bloom whitish. The ssp. Rauchii has leaves with mostly wavy margins...and the flowers are dark deepish reddish. Are these still the same clone...? Not a challenge...just curious.... ????????????
Believe me...traipsing thru the bush we could often tell if a plant were 'related' to hoya - or an aesclepiad - but without flowers or some other 'sign', impossible to tell if a hoya or not.....
Carol, reread that post. :)
Terminal case of the stupids, Mark....what did/didn't I say?
I was talking 'bout Stephanotis, not H. imperialis. ^_^
AHHhhhhhhhhhh Yep...mind is off its' leash, that's for sure! Thanks for putting that straight....