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Stapeliads and hoyas (long posting).

Dear Pauline and Tracy,
	I am glad to see you two discussing hoyas and stapeliads here on
this list.  They are two of "my" five main plant groups.  At the risk of
boring the people who happen to remember me and this, I grow gesneriads,
orchids, begonias, hoyas, and stapeliads.  

On Sat, 27 Sep 1997 TTrop@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Pauline,
> I ordered all of the epis I've got from Rainbow Gardens. Great place, and
> very good quality plants. I love the catalog they put out, its always nice to
> see what the flowers look like of what you are ordering. Yes, I know that
> they have a lot of hoyas, I ordered from them a few years back. Now, I have
> everything they have and more. 

	I'm glad to read that you were happy with your order from Rainbow
Gardens; I love looking at their catalog, and hope to order some hoyas
from them soon.  Don't remember if they have ceropegias or not, but I
wan't to grow some of those, too.  Currently, I only have the
common-as-dirt C. woodii ("String of hearts"?).  Someone at the last
cactus and succulent show I went to was displaying a couple of other spp.,
which looked like larger versions of C. woodii.

	Back to me, me, me for a second.  I guess that I should just
combine two of "my" groups, the hoyas and stapeliads, into the one
category of asclepiads.  Today, I was bored during our gesneriad sale, and
walked over to a sale of native plants which was in another part of the
arboretum.  There I saw another member of the milkweed family,
Aristolochia californica, or California Dutchman's Pipe. I think that was
the common name.  It was in a section of butterfly plants, and it the food
of the pipevine swallowtails, I think.  

	I remember having seen the more common aristolochia in the book
_Fun with Odd and Curious Houseplants_, and that it is Dutchman's Pipe. 
The ones on sale today did not look easily covertible to indoor growing,
the plants were in 1 gal. pots, twining up a meter long bamboo stake.  I
guess that I didn't want it  badly enough.  

The one gal that I order from is the one who
> supplied Rainbow Gardens with thier hoyas. Her name is Ann Wayman, and she is
> one of the founders of the hoya society that  I belong to. I belong to both

	I have been lazy about joining at least one of the hoya societies,
but have 5-6 issues of The Hoyan, and will probably join that group first.
Or maybe I should join the Asclep. group first.  Do you
know the name of that group's publication?  How often
does it appear?  I couldn't find it in the horticulture libary I visit.  

> looking at joining the Hoya society in New Zealand, it is also for Epi's. I
> am waiting for a friend to give me the info. I also might join the Asclepiad
> Society. I just love Stapliads, except for the stink of the flower. I am told
> that the Hurerina(sp) has the neat flowers but not as fowl of smell, but we
> will see, a friend of mine just sent me a couple different ones.

	I have about 10-15 stapeliads, of 4-5 genera.  Have only bloomed
about 5-7 of the spp.  Even the ones with the carrion scent often only
have the smell when one goes looking, er, smelling for it.  I have in
front of me Sttapeliopsis neronis with 3-4 of its wine-colored, urn-shaped
flowers. Really neat flowers, with only the tiniest of openings.  I wonder
if it is pollinated by some tiny, gnat-sized fly...anyway, it doesn't have
any noticeable odor, unless I actually sniff the flowers.  Ditto for
Piaranthus foetida, contrary to what the specific epithet suggests.  I
have it in bloom right now, with two flowers, and it only has a smell when
I get really close to it.  Probably has something to do with the fact that
the flowers are only the size of a dime, when viewed looking at the "face"
of the corolla from the front.  I have also bloomed Pectinaria saxatilis,
but don't remember the odor, if any.  

	One of my more reliable bloomer, Orbeopsis melanacantha, has
flowers on it almost continuously.  Also dime-sized corollas, but with a
more pronounced 5-pointed shape.  One very nifty thing about these flowers
is a way they have of sort of wrapping themselves around, or clinging to,
the edge of the pot, or against a stem of the plant.  The corollas seemed
smoothly "plastered" on.  This little performer _does_ pack a pretty
strong odor; if I put my nose in _this_ one, it is as strong as any
stapelia, with a smell which screams out "CARRION!".  I don't mind,
though, this amazing adaptation is one of the things which drew me to the
group.  I like telling people, "Oh, that's a fragrant flower...", and
having them put their nose in it, to get a little surprise.  Then they are
usually interested to hear about why the smell exists.  I read that the
molecule involved is "cadaverine", which is the exact one exuded by
rotting flesh.  

	You mentioned wanting to  grow Huernia.  I have H. kennedyana,
which bloomed fairly well for a few months.  Have H. volkartii v. repens,
which is not doing well for me, is nearly dead, in fact.  My third huernia
is H. striata, which I got for $2 at a cactus and succulent show.  It had
a bud, which grew fine and opened, and then a second flower a months
later.  Now, it has another young bud.  The flowers are incredible.  Also
dime-sized corolla, but  with that raised ring which looks like a Life Saver
candy and which occurs in a few different stapeliads, I think (from seeing
photos).  Really outlandish-looking, and the flowers last 7-10 days,
which has been the standard situation for me with stapeliads.  Not bad,
since I know to expect them to last "only" that long.  Both times that
this one bloomed, I put in on top of a file cabinet in our reception area,
so that others could see it as they passed by.  

	I also have Huernia pendula, which came with blooms, and with a
pot full of soil mealybugs.  I cut away most of tthe roots, soaked the
plant and roots in a horticultural oil/soap mix, and replanted.   Mimic
this at your own risk; technically the oil solution needs to be thoroughly
and continuously agitated (stirred or shaken)  when it is used as a dip,
so I was taking a chance.  Also, I'm not yet sure that it worked.  The
blooms hang down on this one, hence the name.  I also have a Huernia
zebrina (probably, my friend wrote; if it is, it also has the LifeSaver
effect).  I have a stuggling Huernia hislopii, and a Huernia sp. ( it was
only $1, so I couldn't resist, at the C&S show and sale).  

> I have also ordered my hoyas from Dale Kloppenberg, he's the president of the
> hoya society and Michael Miyashiro, he belongs to the other hoya society. and
> I have traded plants with a couple of gals who live in oregon. About Logees,
> the pitts, at least with thier hoyas. All of them were labeled wrong, and
> they had root nematodes.
> BAD NEWS. I hope your order turns out ok. Let me know.

	You seem to know everybody who is anybody in the hoya world.  You
probably know Eva Karin, from Sweden, right?  I should try her e-mail
address again, to make sure it still works.  She and I exchanged a couple
of letters, after I read her mention of having over 250 hoyas when she
intoduced herself to the orchid listserv group.  She sent me a list of her
hoyas, and mentioned that she has been along on one or more collecting
trips with Klopenberg, to the Phillipines, and perhaps to another country.

	I got my first group of stapeliads from Joe's Nursery in Vista,
and got service about which I have raved  (positively) here on this list. 
Got some of the others from Shein's Nursery, which is a sort of local,
Nothern California vendor who sells at the shows and sales.  Got a
couple of others from Rare Plant Research nursery, and from a local guy
named Bryan Gym.  The SMB's were on the plant from Rare Plant Reseach.

	Sorry to have droned on at such length about this; now I want to order
some new stapeliads.  I hope to have enough decent-looking hoyas and
stapeliads and maybe a couple of other genera to set up a display table at
a non-judged show in which members display some of their plants, often
organized around a theme, just for fun.  My theme could be something like,
"Meet some milkweeds' or "Assorted Asclep's".  Something about which to
dream, anyway...

Keith Dabney
San Francisco
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