Martha's exotic Backyard in Israel

Hoya bella, Beautiful Hoya, בת שבע יפה
Scientific name:  Hoya bella R.Br.
Synonym name:  Hoya lanceolata ssp. bella (Hook.) D.H.Kent
Common name:  Beautiful Hoya
Hebrew name:  בת שבע יפה
Family:  Asclepiadaceae, אסקלפיים

Israel exotic flowers

Life form:  Evergreen climbing vines or shrubs
Leaves:  Alternately, simple, ovate-lanceolate, entire margins succulent
Inflorescence:  Umbel, from a peduncle, or stem
Flowers:  5 thick, waxy, triangular White to pink petals in repeating clusters at the apex of 2-3 cm peduncles
Fruits / pods:   Follicles
Flowering Period:  Spring, summer
Origin:  Southern Asia

Martha's backyard, exotic flowers


Derivation of the botanical name:
Hoya named for Thomas Hoy (c.1750– 1822), gardener to the Duke of Northumberland at Syon House in Middlesex in the United Kingdom. Botanist Robert Brown (1773 – 1858), a Scottish botanist, named the plant genus Hoya in his honour describing Hoy as someone "whose merits as an intelligent and successful cultivator have been long known to the botanists of this country".
bella, beautiful, handsome.
  • The standard author abbreviation R.Br. is used to indicate Robert Brown (1773 – 1858), a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Hook. is used to indicate William Jackson Hooker (1785 – 1865), an English systematic botanist and organiser, and botanical illustrator.
  • The standard author abbreviation D.H.Kent is used to indicate Douglas Henry Kent (1920 – 1998), an English botanist and plant collector.