Hoya australis
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Hoya australis, commonly known as waxflower or common hoya,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the Apocynaceae or dogbane family and is native to northern and eastern Australia, Papuasia and Melanesia. It is a succulent vine or subshrub with fleshy or leathery, elliptic, oblong, egg-shaped or more or less round leaves, racemes of fleshy, cream-coloured and red flowers, and spindle-shaped follicles. It is a popular garden plant, noted for its fragrant flowers.
Description
Hoya australis is a succulent climbing vine to subshrub that typically reaches a height of Template:Cvt. It has fleshy or leathery, elliptic, oblong, egg-shaped or more or less round leaves up to Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide. Leaves growing in sunnier positions are a more yellowish green while those in shadier situations are dark green in colour. The flowers are arranged in racemes Template:Cvt in diameter, each flower Template:Cvt long on a pedicel Template:Cvt long. The flowers are fleshy, bell-shaped to wheel-shaped, cream-coloured with red under the corona, with egg-shaped lobes, Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide. The flowers have a strong sweet scent and produce abundant nectar. The corona lobes are oval, cream-coloured, Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide. Flowering time depends on subspecies, and the fruit is a spindle-shaped follicle Template:Cvt long.[1][2]
Taxonomy
Hoya australis was first formally described in 1828 by James Traill from an unpublished description by Robert Brown.[3][4] The specific epithet (australis) is Latin for "southern".[5]
Subspecies
In 1988, Ken Hill described subspecies australis and subsp. sanae in the journal Telopea,[6] and in 1991, Paul Irwin Forster and David Liddle described subsp. oramicola, subsp. rupicola and subsp. tenuipes, in the journal Austrobaileya,[7] and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Hoya australis R.Br. ex J.Traill subsp. australis[8] is a twining plant has leaves that are fleshy or succulent, sparse or densely hairy and not curved under, and has extrafloral nectaries. It flowers from March to July.[7]
- Hoya australis P.I.Forst. & Liddle subsp. oramicola[9] has leaves more than Template:Cvt long, with obscure veins and the edges strongly rolled under. It flowers in July.[7]
- Hoya australis (K.D.Hill) P.I.Forst. & Liddle subsp. rupicola[10] is similar to subsp. australis, but is an erect plant that does not twine, has leaves that are succulent and not curved under, and lacks extrafloral nectaries. It flowers from January to March.[7]
- Hoya australis subsp. sanae (F.M.Bailey) K.D.Hill[11] previously known as Hoya sanae F.M.Bailey[12] has leaves less than Template:Cvt long, with prominent veins and the edges strongly rolled under. It flowers from May to June.[7]
- Hoya australis subsp. tenuipes (K.D.Hill) P.I.Forst. & Liddle [13] is a twining plant has leaves that are leathery, glabrous or sparsely hairy and not curved under, and has extrafloral nectaries. In Australia, this subspecies mainly flowers in September and October.[7]
Distribution and habitat
This species of Hoya is endemic to Australia, and is found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.
Subspecies australis occurs in eastern Australia from the Torres Strait in northern Queensland to Dorrigo in New South Wales.[7][14] Subspecies oramicola is restricted to Melville Island|Melville and Bathurst Islands north of Darwin, subsp. rupicola occurs in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Top End of the Northern Territory on sandstone outcrops and cliffs.[7][15][16] subsp. sanae grows in foreshore vine thickets on Cape York Peninsula and some offshore islands and subsp. tenuipes is found on the southern Cape York Peninsula, as far south as Innisfail, and in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Melanesia.[7]
Ecology
It serves as a food plant for the caterpillars of the Queensland butterfly the no-brand crow (Euploea alcathoe),[17] and the common Australian crow (E. core).[18] Flowers are pollinated by the southern grass-dart (Ocybadistes walkeri).[19]
Use in horticulture
Hoya australis is a popular garden and houseplant in Australia, where it flowers best in a well-lit position. It is often grown in containers and trained to grow on trellises on verandahs, fences and in glasshouses. It is a butterfly-attracting plant in the garden.[18] It can be grown indoors provided it receives direct sunlight.[20]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".