Hoya Cousin in our Property!

Whenever I am home in the province, which are normally once-a-month, I roam around the vicinity. Upon waking up in the mornings it is always my habit to walk our streets, clutching eyeglasses and camera. There's a lot of lovely subjects through that circuitous road from our house. Sometimes i have the wide angle lens mounted and suddenly i found some wonderful insects, or minute flowers along the roadsides. It is difficult to carry other lenses on these walks, much more a tripod. I always plan to make it just a leisurely walk, but it always end up very tiring. Most of the time the insects are near the ground, and i need to make body contortions to photograph it. My lazy body not accustomed to long stretchings react badly to these. Sometimes my legs suddenly get cramps because of muscle stretchings.

Our property is also a very good source of biodiversity. I find there many unusual plants, insects, mushrooms, ferns, flowers, etc. I don't know most of the things i see there, because mostly the unknown catch my attention. Last year i found an orchid, which i learned the ID only this year through some specialized Facebook groups. This month a plant again caught my interest. Maybe it's because i am now hooked on collecting hoyas, since i realized it has many species endemic and indigenous to the Philippines.

The flowers of this vine is so similar to hoyas, so i wont let the chance to document it. The expanded golden corolla is so attractive, with the corona also golden but a bit darker. The young flowers are shaped distinctly the same as the hoyas i am familiar with. The habit however is facing up or negatively geotropic, but some hoyas are like that too. I am so intrigued so i get a lot of angled shots including the position where the peduncles arise, the habit of the vine and the shape and position of the leaves in relation to the stem. 

I am sure you will agree that the flowers are beautiful and interesting.  However unlike most hoyas, the flowers in a single peduncle are blooming with a staggered maturity. 

The vines have long internodes  of more than one foot with half a centimeter diameter.  It just creeps on the ground, which so happened to have piles of coconut husks left after getting the meat for copra production. I am not sure how to describe those leaves, but as laymen i will call it 'heart-shaped'. LOL. That means there is a distinct notch at the side of the petiole. There is also a distinct venation that meets at the tip, i suppose they call it 'anastomosing', I am just guessing that term here! 

The leaves are opposite, meaning two leaves arise from the opposite sides of one node. 

Immediately, i uploaded the photos to the FB group listing all the endemic flora of the Philippines. It led to my confirmation that it belongs to the hoya family, Apocynaceae. I also posted it in the international hoya group, which led me to its Scientific name, Heterostemma cuspidatum. Its photos in the internet are still not available, although old references already mentioned the provinces it is formerly found, which included ours. The main taxonomist-administrator of the Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines asked for these photos to be included in the compilation, he is a New Zealand scientist at the University of Canterbury. Now, Heterostemma cuspidatum, already has a face in the internet. At least one weekend provided some worthy cause, I am so elated to have discovered it in our property. And I am glad to have provided the photos, that otherwise are non-existent. I retained the copyright to the photos, by the way! 

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