Hoya kerrii

Hoya kerrii is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to Southeast Asia. Its eponymous collector is Arthur Francis George Kerr, Irish physician and botanist.
As the thick leaves are heart-shaped, the plant is sometimes named "lucky-heart". In Europe, it is sold for Saint Valentine's Day.
Its origin area is South China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and the Indonesian island of Java.

Description

Hoya kerrii is a climbing plant that can grow up to 4 meters high. Stems have a diameter of 7 mm. The leaves are 6 cm wide, 5 mm thick.
Adult plants show inflorescences of 5 cm diameter and up to 25 flowers. They produce small balls of nectar, coloured red to brown. They smell only faintly or not at all.

Taxonomy

A specimen was collected by Arthur Francis George Kerr in 1910 or 1911 in the Doi Suthep mountains west of Chiang Mai at an altitude of 390 m above sea level. It was transplanted to Kew Gardens where it flowered in August 1911, and the species was first described by William Grant Craib from that plant and the wild collections in 1911.