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Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton

Apocynaceae · Borneo, Philippines · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Elmer ex Merr.

No habitat climate

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Summary

Hoya obscura is a fast-growing, climbing species of Hoya in the dogbane (milkweed) family, Apocynaceae, found in the Philippines. The plant's many aerial roots (which the vine produces along its entire length) will gradually adhere to vertical surfaces nearby, such as buildings, trees or poles, acting as anchors and enabling the plant to receive better sun exposure away from the ground. Adequate light is imperative for photosynthesis and the production of inflorescences; a Hoya with insufficient sun or light exposure will often become visibly "droopy" and lacking in vigor. Likewise, excessive sunlight potentially causes dehydration and sunburn of the vine.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Hoya obscura", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an epiphyte, listed under the genus Hoya in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climbing epiphyte or lithophyte”.

Nothing derived: no habitat climate for this species.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Group. Listed under the genus Hoya in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climbing epiphyte or lithophyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

No habitat climate can be derived: Only 2 distinct land cells of the climate grid hold an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope. 10 of the 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or to no stated accuracy and fewer than three decimals or by something other than a person's observation, and cannot place a climate cell, though they count for the map and its marker.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing.

Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

NativeBorneo, Philippines · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).

Map marker12.701, 124.039 · in the densest population, 8 records (67% of those in range)

Kew's description“climbing epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here

Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 12 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 8 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. No climate across the range is derived for this species. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.

Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 8107678 (Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton): Kew's file holds it as Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton (accepted); 10 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.

How this section is made

The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 12 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Other Hoya 56 in the reference

Hoya archboldiana Apocynaceae

Hoya australis Samoan waxplant Photo: CC0, author not stated

Hoya bella Miniature wax plant Photo: CC BY, Jefferson Ferreira Hoya blashernaezii Apocynaceae Hoya buotii Apocynaceae

Hoya campanulata Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei Gan

Hoya carnosa Porcelainflower Photo: CC BY, 胡正恆(Jackson Hu)

Hoya caudata Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei Gan Hoya cordata Apocynaceae

Hoya coronaria Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQ Hoya crassicaulis Apocynaceae

Hoya cumingiana Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Engeser all 57 ›

Names & registers

GBIF POWO IPNI WFO Wikidata Wikipedia iNaturalist

The record

Family

Apocynaceae

Described by

Elmer ex C.M.Burton

Native to

Borneo, Philippines

Wild records

12 in range · 8 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22

GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3573062 is Hoya obscura Elmer ex Merr.; the page links Kew's Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton, and the name is cited as Kew cites it

GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22

GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22

WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04

GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 10 records of GBIF's key 8107678, Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton (Kew's file holds it as Hoya obscura Elmer ex C.M.Burton (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API

Habitat climate climate nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22only 2 distinct land cells of the climate grid hold an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope

Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22

Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22

iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22

iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked

GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22

Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22

OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.