I received this Hoya carnosa from Italy last September as a stunted succulent with a little bundle of roots that fitted with plenty of room to spare in a 7.5 cm (3 inch) pot. A bargain for €3. It has obviously appreciated being watered and fed a lot more with high humidity and a constant temperature of 23-26°C. It now has one metre of vine with several branches. These first flowers opened yesterday.
I am tempted to do a deep dive into researching the history of the plant but I am going to resist. I have other things I need to do. As I remember, it would involve translating several Latin and old Dutch documents.
The fragrance is very different from the Hoya bella I mentioned before. Rather than a very floral fragrance of the type called "white flower" by perfumers, it has a very sweet, sugary scent that smells like a dessert you would regret if you ate too much. It is a long time since I smelled honey but I think it reminds me of clover honey but with a strange extra dimension. Not quite caramel or black treacle not quite a chemical found in cheap plastic. It may not be as simplistically delightful as Hoya bella but it certainly made me think more.
