Hi Golden, I don't think it smells like Horse urine. It smells kinda nice.

Jan

Scent is different for every individual and well people like different things. I know that I like the scent of my Hoya DS-70 but I have a friend who says it smells like dirty sweat socks.

Golden where are you ordering the plant from? Sometimes a Hoya australis subspecies is listed as keysii just so you are not surprised. I don't think this is a valid name anymore but for what it is worth the plant resembles Hoya australis subsp. tenuipes.

Mike

Well thats the problem - Im ordering them from Pike, I have heard he has lovely nice plants - but some are mislabeled. I have ordered Lacunosa, serpens, purpeo-fusca and I DID have keysii on order but changed it to Australis - But I have NO IDEA which Australis. Then I considered Imperialis - but I read on Daves garden forum that they had bought Imperialis there and it is actually calycina. Which I am fine with - I think - as long as the smell is nice. Mainly I would hate to grow this plant waiting for lovely flowers and then the flowers come and the smell is disgusting. So I am not sure whether to order his Imperialis which is calycina (as I mentioned - or just his australis and get what I get???

Most Hoya australis plants are supposed to be easy to grow and flower very well when they get a little larger. The scent is supposed to be quite strong but I have never smelled the blooms of or grown Hoya australis. I do have Hoya calycina and it is a really nice plant, very soft fuzzy leaves and larger flowers than Hoya australis but with a similar scent. I wonder what Hoya purpeo-fusca is, I doubt that it is correctly labeled so it just might turn out to be Hoya pubicalax. I do believe that Pike Lake also sells Hoya New Guinea Red and New Guinea White. These two Hoyas are also nice with the white being Hoya albiflora or magnifica and the red one I am not too sure but apparently it has leaves somewhat like Hoya globulosa which is a species from Vietnam. Beware that some people don't like the scent of certain Hoya magnifica varieties but they have huge pure white blooms that are just beautiful.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful:

I couldnt see the photo for some reason Mike?

Sorry mike I also can not see the photo

cindy

Hope this one works

Here is a link that might be useful:

Actually, I think the one I've seen as keysii is australis ssp. australis (which I grow and used to think was ssp. sana...) It's fuzzy and grows very bushy. Ssp. tenuipes has smooth leaves, glossy and bronze when new, and is an aggressive climber. I've gotten flowers from my ssp. tenuipes and they're as wonderfully fragrant (IMO) as they are beautiful. My ssp. australis has never bloomed for me (in spite of being at least, I'd guess, a dozen years old...)

But Mike is right about the sense of smell - it's a very subjective thing. I've never sensed ANY smell at all with my tsangii (DS-70), but I've heard it described as buttery smelling. I love the smell of my pubicalyx, but my husband thinks it's stinky. But I pick them more for the look of the plant and the flower and don't worry too much about the smell, either way. I grow some rather odorific Stapeliads and the knockout flowers are worth a whiff of rotting flesh!

Denise in Omaha

Yes I see what you mean Denise about person smell etc. I have a privet that grows outside in the front yard and in the summer when the windows are open and the plant is in full bloom - it is just over powering - kind of a pungent smell - it gives me a headache actually its so over powering. Now my stephanotis and gardenia - could over power the house and wouldnt bother me one bit! But I guess when you hear a flower smells like horse urine - or smelly socks - you kinda want to stay clear from it. And yes your right picking the plant for the foliage is a good way of doing it. But as I mentioned before - I would hate to grow something for years and years and it finally flowers and its disgusting. :0)
Golden

Mike, see this is what I mean by peoples descriptions - for instance the magnifica - a beautiful plant for sure but after I read this it sort of makes you second guess the plant(see the description of the smell)
http://www.myhoyas.com/Hoya%20magnifica.htm

Golden I know exactly what you mean about Privet. When I walk to work during the summer I have to pass an entire block with privet shrubs and I absolutely hate the scent, just way too strong up close.

I grow Stapeliads, Amorphophallus and Bulbophyllum orchids that are infamous for smelling like rotting fish, road kill, dirty socks and manure. I am a sucker for a strange and beautiful flower no matter the scent so personally I would grow Hoya magnifica even if it smelled like a stable. LOL You know a flower stinks when flys lay eggs on it within an hour of it's opening. I am just lucky that my Stapelia gigantea blooms during it's summer outside but then again the scent of many plants is only strong for a short period during sunny weather etc. and not all day long.

Mike