Hoya merrillii and Visitor

Hoya merrillii is a prolific hoya. Once it started blooming the umbels will produce buds as soon as they are spent. Sometimes, there are even already young buds while other buds are still blooming. However, they don't form very nicely rounded umbels like the other hoyas in my collection. In fact, the first time they flowered they look so disorganized. But they produce a lot of umbels to compensate for the unharmonious patterns of the pedicels. 

 Here is a more arranged flowers in one umbel to give you an example of my description on top.

Here are two umbels arising from the same node. They are prolific aren't they? But look at the lenght and directions of the pedicels, unrully i tell you! They also have a mild scent that maybe very attractive to the moths and insects, but for me is not top of the line. That is because i have other hoyas with sweet scents that can be made into perfumes, if the nectars are just very plenty.

 I visited them one night and look who is its nocturnal visitor, a very lovely tiger moth. It actually stayed there for a long time only changing position to seep nectar.

 I am trying to make a close-up shot to see the proboscis in action. The moth is just about 2cm in length from the head to the tip of the wings.

Here is a cropped part to show you a more vivid detail where the end of its proboscis is directed into, for sucking nectar. It was pointed to the base of the corona, in between the corona and corolla. Hmmm, they are really built for that purpose. Imagine me also trying to sip the nectar! In my case i put my finger to dab on the nectar and taste it. I have tasted many species already. Hoya nectar tastes good, although i cannot just say the differences among the species.

Nature Notes

Outdoor Wednesday

Floral Friday Foto

Todays Flowers

Mellow Yellow Monday