PS-The
Hoyan
Volume 3, #1
Hoya mindorensis Schltr.
– Photographed by George Slusser
or
Hoya erythrostemma Kerr – Photograph by J.
Donker
Letter #1:
This one came from a Swedish
reader. She asked me to explain the
differences between Hoya mindorensis &
Hoya erythrostemma. She reminded
me that Mr. Kloppenburg claims that they are one and the same and that the
correct (oldest) name is Hoya mindorensis. Being aware that I do not buy Mr.
Kloppenburg’s lumping of these two species, she wanted me to explain why I
disagree with him and she asked that I put it on PS-The Hoyan, so here
goes!
Reply:
In the 4th Quarter 1991
issue of Fraterna Mr. Kloppenburg attempted to sink Hoya erythrostemma Kerr into synonymy, making it Hoya
mindorensis Schltr. In this
attempt he miscopied both original name publications, misspelling 8 Latin words
in his reprint of Hoya erythrostemma and changing one of those Latin words from
“stigmatis” (which is the fertile part of the female sex organ of a plant) as
it was in the original, to the word, “segmentis” (which is a portion of
something) in his blotched reprint. He also changed the word “circiter” (which
means “around, in the neighborhood, near, about, approximately, etc.) to the
non-word “cinter.” He misspelled an equal number of Latin words in copying the Hoya
mindorensis publication but those weren’t so serious.
Accompanying this travesty was a page
of 8 pictures. Some of the pictures are
of such poor quality that even the Almighty would be hard pressed to identify
them by any but supernatural means. Those that are recognizable prove, without
a shadow of doubt, that more than one species is pictured on that page,
regardless of what the author of the piece alleges. What surprises me most is the blind acceptance
that he is correct (because that nice man, Mr. Kloppenburg says so) from the
same people who go on hoya forums and question the identity of a common hoya
because a single leaf on theirs is a different shade of green, pink or white,
than others they’ve seen with the same labels on them. Why can’t they see the radical differences in
the flower parts on Mr. Kloppenburg’s picture page?
Here are my reasons for
knowing that Hoya erythrostemma is
NOT a synonymous name for Hoya mindorensis:
Schlechter’s
sketch of a Hoya mindorensis flower.
Keep in mind the fact that this flower was
dried and pressed before Schlechter ever laid eyes on it.
The most remarkable feature of
this species is the pollinarium. It is
remarkable in that the outer margins of the pollinia are not keeled as in all other
hoyas collected to date, except this species, Hoya wightii and hoyas in the Eriostemma section. Schlechter did not pay a lot of attention to
pollinaria so his sketches of them are always inaccurate in many ways but he drew
all of his other hoya pollinia (except Eriostemmas) with keels on their outer margins.
They are missing in
his sketch of Hoya mindorensis. These “keels” are called “wings” by Rintz and “sterile edges”
by Kloppenburg). They are missing on the pollinia belonging to the pictured Hoya
mindorensis. They are present on
the pollinia of Hoya erythrostemma.
Hoya
mindorensis Schltr.
Tracings of photomicrographic pictures of actual flower parts.
a. Calyx & carpels.
b.
near or at outer lobal apex.
c.
d.
Schlechter’s sketch but you must remember that Schlechter drew what he saw viewing flowers that had been
put in a press
and dried before he ever saw them. My
sketches are from living material.
e. Pollinarium. Note the lack of keeled outer margins on the pollinia. Schlechter drew much longer translators
and
no caudicles. I believe that is because
the pollinaria he saw had become twisted from front to back or visa versa. Pollinaria are extremely difficult to work
with --- they just won’t behave. Those
in my sketch were persuaded to lie flat, face up, for photographing but that
took a lot of work to accomplish. I also
had fresh flowers. I’ve seen it happen
so often that I do not consider it speculation when I say that I’m sure
Schlechter’s pollinarium twisted, causing the caudicle to slip out of the
protective embrace of the translator.
This resulted in the long slender looking translator arm, sans caudicle.
While I do not believe Mr. Kloppenburg’s oft repeated statement that one can
identify a hoya by its pollinarium alone, I wonder why he confuses two with
such different pollinaria. He’s made the
claim frequently and, to date, has never published a
retraction of said statement, at least not in a way that one could recognize
his statement as a retraction.
Hoya erythrostemma Kerr
Tracings of photomicrographic pictures of actual flowers.
a. Calyx & carpels, side view
b. Calyx & carpels, overhead view.
c.
This is lacking on Hoya mindorensis.
d.
e.
the center to thinner at the outside is more gradual.
f. Pollinarium. Note the opened toed bedroom slipper shape of the retinaculum, the very narrow translators and
the big, fat
caudicles that are so different from
those on Hoya mindorensis. But
more than anything, note that each pollinium is very
strongly keeled on its outer margin. If you are familiar with the R. Rintz Hoya
erythrostemma drawing in his 1978 Malaysian Hoya monograph, you’ll
notice that he drew the pollinarium to look quite different than the one shown
here. His was an accurate drawing of the
underside of a pollinarium. My drawing
is of the upper side. Pollinaria are
very difficult to work with so it is very easy to mistake the top from the
bottom when one removes one for study, especially if one is in too big a hurry
to repeat the process several times and continuously compare the view on the
glass slide with the one still attached to the flower.
Letter
#2:
This letter was also sent by a Swedish
grower (not the same one) who started out by saying, “This is a trick
question.” She then asked, “Did you see Mr. Kloppenburg’s publication of the
new species Hoya kastbergii in Fraterna 16(4): 1 (2002)? Please tell me what you think is wrong with
it.” In addition, Berit Carlgren also wrote and pointed out a grave error in
that publication, so I was prepared with an answer, trick or not.
Reply:
Yes, I found something wrong with
Mr. Kloppenburg’s publication, as with all of Mr. Kloppenburg’s
publications. First off I don’t think it
is a valid publication because he didn’t clearly identify the holotype specimen. He merely said, “Holotypus 102003 (UC).” Whose 102003 is it? Kloppenburg’s? Kastberg’s? or Joe Blowinski’s? Different collectors often have
identical collection numbers on their specimens so I believe the collector’s
name should have been cited. If you ever got a Kloppenburg sales’ list you will
have noted his bad habit of dropping prefixes from numbered species. He’d often have as many as three listings of
a single number with no way for one to distinguish between them. One would be an IML number; one would be an F
number and one would be a Perpich number.
Customers were never given any indication as to which was which or even
that each was a different species. It’s
no different in his publishing.
The “trick
question.” I think, referred to Mr. Kloppenburg’s
unresearched and uninvestigated statement that says, “Plant: has clear sap,
grows like Hoya carnosa R. Br.” The
fact is that this species has thick, sticky, juicy, snow white, opaque, milky
looking sap! All one needs do is nick a
leaf with a fingernail --- even a thin, brittle, “breaks with a cross look,”
fingernail (that’s the kind I have) will do it.
As for it growing like Hoya carnosa, it certainly isn’t, at
least under my conditions, the strong, rampant grower that Hoya carnosa is, however
it does root and grow when planted in dirt or a dirt substitute so in that
sense he is correct. It grows like Hoya
carnosa ---- and all other plants.
Another thing I found strange is
that he tells you the plant grows in nature as an epiphyte and then in the next
sentence he tells you, “The ground there is limestone.” What the heck difference does it make what
the ground is if it is the nature of the plant to grow high above the ground in
a tree, where its only nourishment comes from rotting leaves and bird and
insect waste? Such a statement implies
that the plant should have limestone added to its potting soil and that is
probably not true. I grow the plant and
it is thriving in a slightly acid mix.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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