Hoya lanceolata is the name of the species and it's forms or subspecies carry the names bella and paxtonii. The correct way to write what we just casually say as Hoya bella is Hoya lanceolata subsp bella. The others in this group are much less common to find for sale although I have seen Hoya engleriana offered. I am sure some of these are also sold with the wrong names.

Check out the Stemma Journal issue I linked to because it has the most info you will find in one place and where a comparison of flowers and leaves are presented.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Stemma Vol 1 #3 on Apodagis

Thank you for the link. That clears it up a lot.

What is interesting, is the culture recommendations in the link for lanceolata are opposite of what is recommended in the book I have.

Renee

That's not a big surprise depending on the book but then again if someone writing the book lives in a totally different climate than the person reading it the cultural advice may not translate well into their conditions.

When it comes to Hoyas if you look at the leaves you can get an idea of how much moisture they will need. Very thin leaves without much of a waxy cuticle will need moist conditions while a species with thick succulent or waxy leaves will be able to withstand some drought.

Mike

lol I'd always wondered what happened to the non-bella lanceolata!

I agree that they like being kept wet. This is true of engleriana as well. When they are moist, they really glow, don't they?