Hoya

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of evergreen plant from the Apocynaceae family, often grown indoors for its attractive flowers and foliage
2. This genus comprises flowering plants that are appreciated for their ornamental value and ability to flourish in various environments
3. A genus of climbing or trailing plants known for their waxy leaves and clusters of star-shaped flowers that thrive in varying light conditions

Etymology: Hoya is a genus of flowering plants, native mostly to tropical Asia and Australasia, whose members are climbers and epiphytes with thick, waxy leaves. The genus was named in honour of Thomas Hoy, an English gardener who worked for the Duke of Northumberland at Syon House near London in the late eighteenth century. The botanist Robert Brown published the name in 1810, and it stuck, so the plant that gardeners still call the wax plant carries the name of a working gardener rather than a scientist. The word therefore began as a personal name, turned into a Latinised genus name, and only then became an English common noun for any plant in that genus. Its use is the same as that of other plant names taken from people, such as fuchsia and dahlia, in which a surname is given to a whole group of species.