Tsangii bloom scent ????

19 years ago

I have a Tsangii,I think I spelled that right. I totally ignored this tiny little rooted cutting, I got it as a free bonus for buying a nice size Lacunosa that I got on EBay. I know nothing of this hoya, but it has grown very nicely, many stems now, not huge, but a nice 4in pot full of long stems. ANYWAY...it bloomed! A small bunch of tiny tiny fuzzy red and orange blooms, I think that was the color combo, but it's scent is my question. I swear that they smelt like MELTED BUTTER!! I couldn't figure out where that aroma was coming from, and there it was, a bloom cluster on that plant that I had ignored for a over a year, and it smells like hot melted butter!! Is that what it is suppose to smell like? Or is my nose totally out of whack? I am so use to all my hoyas smelling like orchids,and chocolate and other exotic aromas. Now this one comes and it is a powerful butter smell. Is that its normal aroma? Or is it suppose to smell like something else and maybe I just couldn't reconize the aroma to name it correctly? Any other growers of this plant and have any other names for the scent they got from it? And I am sure it is Tsangii....I checked on it and it is the right plant,but i could never find any comment on the scent.

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Comments (5)

Ispahan Zone6a Chicago
19 years ago
Perception of fragrance is 100% subjective and personal. There is no right or wrong way to perceive and define a fragrance.

That said, the blossoms of several hoya species--one of which is Hoya heuschkeliana--smell exactly like movie theatre popcorn butter to me. While I found it interesting at first, it is not a fragrance I find to be even remotely pleasant when a large quantity of flowers are open. I LOVE butter, but there is something about *certain* hoya fragrances (like this one) that is overly pervasive and cloying at times. I ended up giving my plant away.
User
19 years ago
I think I only had a single umbel blooming (a year or 2 ago) but I do remember that buttery smell, I think mostly at night. A single bloom wasn't overpowering.

Yet a friend who had given me my Lacunosa (which I just love) recently told me she gave the last of hers away as she didn't care for the smell. Mine hasn't bloomed yet, it's the look of it which I like so much, but I think it's interesting that she found the smell strong enough to make her give away the plant too.
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Ispahan Zone6a Chicago
19 years ago
I enjoy the fragrance of Hoya lacunosa, although my absolute favorite is that of Hoya obscura. I couldn't imagine ever giving either one away.

My Hoya nummularioides, on the other hand, was another one that I found to have a terribly oppressive fragrance. I couldn't even sleep at night when it bloomed (my plant was fairly large and had 70+ umbels open at once). I gave this one away, too.
Denise
19 years ago
I have two large tsangii (or DS-70), both of which bloom almost constantly and from neither of which I have ever detected even the slightest fragrance. Lacunosa, to me, is the most powerfully scented, especially when you consider the size of the flowers. I like the smell, but if one found it unpleasant, you certainly wouldn't want it around when it was blooming because you can't get away from the fragrance! I have yet to have a Hoya bloom that I didn't like. I suspect it's more psychological, though - you know, beauty begets good thoughts which affects to the other senses...

Denise in Omaha
Ispahan Zone6a Chicago
19 years ago
That's just it...it is hard to escape from the fragrance of a hoya when it is flowering. My Hoya lacunosa (a form from Lankawi Island with miniature leaves) has just two open umbels of flowers and I can smell them in almost every room of my house. Good thing I like the scent of this one! :-)