Hoya rubida

Lightly rooted cutting of Hoya rubida.
Exact plant.

Hoya rubida is a Hoya native to the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea, where it grows as an epiphyte in wet tropical forest. It is especially attractive for its glossy foliage, noticeable venation, and colorful new growth.

The leaves are generally oval to elliptic and develop a smooth, glossy green surface as they mature. Fresh growth can emerge in warm bronze, coppery, orange, or reddish tones before gradually turning green, making the plant particularly ornamental even when it is not flowering.

Mature plants produce rounded umbels of star-shaped flowers. Flowers associated with cultivated Hoya rubida are most often described in shades of mauve, dusty pink, peach-pink, or purplish tones, usually with a darker reddish to burgundy corona. Flower coloration can vary between individual plants and cultivated collections. The flowers may also have a light fragrance.

Hoya rubida has an interesting botanical history. Rudolf Schlechter collected the species on New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago in November 1901, between Massava and Cape Lambert. His collection was recorded as Schlechter 13711, and the species was formally published in 1905.

The species name rubida comes from the Latin rubidus, meaning reddish or ruddy - an appropriate name for a plant known for reddish tones in its new growth and flowers.

There has recently been some change in the taxonomy of this plant. Hoya rubida has traditionally been recognized as a separate species and is still listed under that name by several major botanical databases. A recent 2026 treatment of New Guinea Hoyas by Michele Rodda and Nadhanielle Simonsson, however, places Hoya rubida as a synonym of the earlier-published Hoya globulifera. Because Hoya rubida remains the name widely used for this plant in cultivation and the Hoya trade, we continue to list it under the name in which our plant was obtained.

Botanical name: Hoya rubida Schltr.
Recent taxonomic treatment: Hoya globulifera Blume
Native range: Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea
Original collection: New Britain, Schlechter 13711, November 1901
First published: 1905
Growth habit: Epiphytic vine
Notable features: Glossy green foliage, often colorful bronze-to-reddish new growth, and mauve to pinkish flowers with darker centers

Please note that leaf shape, coloration, venation, and flower color can vary between cultivated plants and under different growing conditions.

A note about this plant: Species-level botanical, historical, and taxonomic information above is based on published taxonomic records and publicly available botanical sources. We do not have original wild-collection or provenance documentation for our particular cultivated plant and cannot independently confirm its relationship to the documented wild collections or collector-numbered material.