Hoya aldrichii
{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Hoya aldrichii 2.jpg
| taxon = Hoya aldrichii
| authority = Hemsl.{{cite web |title=Hoya aldrichii |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/125828 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=29 November 2024}}
}}
Hoya aldrichii, commonly known as Christmas Island waxvine,{{cite web |last1=Barker |first1=Robyn M. |editor-last1=Kodela |editor-first1=Phillip G. |title=Hoya aldrichii |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Hoya%20aldrichii |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra |access-date=29 November 2024}} is a species of flowering plant in the Apocynaceae or dogbane family. It is a vine that is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean.
Description
Hoya aldrichii is a tall climber with glabrous stems and pale bark. The leaves are entire, elliptic, rounded at the base with a pointed tip, {{cvt|75–150|mm}} long and {{cvt|35–60|mm}} wide, on a petiole {{cvt|10–15|mm}} long. The flowers are arranged in umbels of 15–30, on a thicked peduncle {{cvt|6–10|mm}} long, that increases in length each flowering season, each flower on a glabrous pedicel {{cvt|20–25|mm}} long. The sepals are {{cvt|2|mm}} long and the petals are pink or white with lobes about {{cvt|6|mm}} long. The corona is pink or deep purplish-pink with star-shaped lobes {{cvt|3–4|mm}} long and about {{cvt|1.5|mm}} wide. The fruit is a glabrous follicle about {{cvt|14|mm}} long and {{cvt|5–10|mm}} wide containing oblong seeds about {{cvt|5|mm}} long with a tuft of hairs {{cvt|20–30|mm}} long on one end.
Taxonomy
Hoya aldrichii was first formally described in 1890 by William Hemsley in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany.{{cite web |title=Hoya aldrichii |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/608409 |website=APNI |accessdate=29 November 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Hemsley |first1=William H. |title=Report on the botanical collections from Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, made by Captain J. P. Maclear, Mr. J. J. Lister, and the Officers of H.M.S. 'Egeria'. |journal=Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany |date=1890 |volume=25 |issue=172 |pages=355–356 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/181024#page/415/mode/1up |access-date=29 November 2024}} The specific epithet honours Pelham Aldrich, commander of the survey vessel HMS Egeria, which visited Christmas Island in 1887.