LIXXIII. ASCLEPIADACE.E. 169 



20. HOYA, R. Br. 



Twining or climbing pendulous (rarely erect), sometimes epiphytic 

 shrubs. Leaves opposite, thick and fleshy. I'lowers in axillary, lateral 

 or terminal umbels (rarely fascicled). Calyx small, 5-partite. Corolla 

 rotate, fleshy or waxy ; lobes 5, often convex and spi'eading or reflexed, 

 valvate in bud ; corona of 5 fleshy membranous or horny lobes, adnate 

 to the stamiual-column, stellately spreading or ascending, turgid or 

 compressed, often concave on the upper surface, the inner margin 

 usually produced into a tooth or process, which is erect and incumbent 

 on the anther. Staminal-column short, arising from the base of the 

 corolla ; anthers conniving over the apex of the style, terminated by an 

 erect or inflexed membranous appendage ; pollen-masses 1 in each 

 anther-cell, erect, waxy, usually attached to the pollen-carriers by dis- 

 tinct caudicles. Style-apex included, flat or scarcely apiculate. Follicles 

 various, usually slender with a thin pericarp, rarely turgid with a thick 

 one. Seeds small ; coma long. — Distmb. Tropical Asia, Malaya, and 

 Australia ; species about 60. 



Leaves linear, not more than ^ in. broad at the widest part; 



flowei-8 1-3-nate 1. H. retusa. 



Leaves ovate or elliptic, | in. or upwards at the widest part ; 

 flowers in many-flowered umbels. 

 Calyx and corolla-lobes glabrous. 



Corona-lobes with the broad end outside 2. H. WigJitii. 



Corona-lobes with the narrow end outside 3. H. ovalifolia. 



Calyx and corolla-lobes hairy 4. H. pendula. 



1. Hoya retusa, Dalzell, in Keiu Journ. Bot. v. 4 (1852) p. 294. 

 Parasitic on trees, pendulous, glabrous ; stem very slender, terete. 

 Leaves 1^2^ by 4—^ in. at the widest part, pale, fleshy, linear, gradually 

 increasing in width from the base to the obcordate apex, furrowed on 

 the upper surface, glabrous ; petioles yV~i ^°' ^o'^g* I'lowers 1-3-nate, 

 subaxillary ; pedicels filiform, i-| in. long. Cal_yx minute, divided to 

 the base ; sepals -^ in. long, deltoid-ovate, subacute. Corolla white, 

 shining, g-f in. across ; lobes ^ in. long, broadly deltoid, acute, with 

 velvety-pubescent margins ; corona pink, the lobes y^^ in. long, horizontal, 

 ovate-oblong, stellately spreading, the broad end outwards. Pollen- 

 masses erect, oblong or slightly clavate, waxy. Pollicles not seen. 

 PI. B. I. V. 4, p. 56 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 153 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, 

 p. 238; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. ] 67.— Plowers : 

 July. Veen. Jamali ; Dhdidi-A'mbri. 



Konkan: Stocks I Kanaka: common in the forests of Yellapur, Talbot; Dandeli 

 woods, Balzelll; Yacombi, Woodrow; Kala naddi, Ritchie, I860! — Distrib. India 

 (W. Peninsula), apparently endemic. 



2. Hoya Wightii, Eool: f. Fl. B. I. v. 4 (1883) p. 59. A stout 

 glabrous climber. Leaves thick, pale, 2|-3| by Ij-lf in., elliptic or 

 elliptic-lanceolate, bluntly acuminate, the margins recurved, base acute 

 or subacute, rarely rounded ; main nerves nearly horizontal with reticu- 

 late venation between them ; petioles j-f in. long. Plowers in lateral 

 pedunculate mnbels ; peduncles |-| in. long, arising from between the 

 petioles ; pedicels stout, |-1 in. long. Calyx glabrous, divided almost 

 to the base ; segments y^^- in. long, oblong, the margins sometimes 

 slightly ciUolate. Corolla cream-colored, glabrous inside, | in. across ; 



