Hoya Corona: Part 1 thru 5

 Corona in Latin means a garland, wreath or crown. It is a fleshy structure that occupies the center of the flower. This structure results from the congenital union of the stamens (5). Evolutionary steps leading to the Genus Hoya (Asclepiadaceae-Asclepiadoideae) progressed to complexity from the more simple flower forms found in Apocinaceae-Plumerioideae, where the anthers are still free from the style head. In a simple flower we have slender filaments topped by anthers (containing the pollen). The corona is initiated after the corolla has partially developed. The 5 coronal scales are really very complex, as we will see. They are fleshy, glabrous, are attached (form a continuity) with the column and the edges of the stylar table that occupies the center of the hoya flower. On this lower inner surface of each coronal scale there is a triangular membranous structure the anther which has two pockets that hold the pollinia (pollen). Lets look at this structure in picture form. The corona with all of its variables makes an excellent taxonomic tool to delineate hoya species but in some old descriptions it is not even mentioned...

• Part 1 (pg 1~156)  Acicularis ~ Gildingii   .pdf document
• Part 2 (pg 157~309)  Golamcioana ~ Pentaphlebia   .pdf document 
• Part 3 (pg 309~408)  Picta ~ Yapiana   .pdf document 
• Part 4 (pg 409~544)  A New Hoya Corona: Hoya sp. ABG NG #12  .pdf document
• Part 5 (pages 1~24)    Appendix Corona   .pdf document 

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