Status: Introduced. Doubtful as an naturalized escape.
Perennial climber, widely cultivated in green houses and tropical gardens. Stems 2-3 m long, milky sap present. Leaves opposite, rather thick and fleshy, dark green above, much paler below. Flowers in dense umbel-like axillary heads. Corolla flat, white to pink, thick and wax-like, covered in short furry papillae; corona smooth and wax-like, star-shaped, white with a red centre.
Notes: It has been recorded from the Central Division of Zimbabwe but it is doubtful whether this concerns a truly naturalized specimen.
Bailey, L.H. (1949). Manual of Cultivated Plants Revised edition. Macmillan, New York. Page 816.
Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2019). Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Hoya carnosa.