Names Have Roots

by Phil Achleman

Every hoya is named for a real person. Each week, Phil Achleman tells the story behind the name: the collectors, botanists, gardeners, and obsessives whose lives got attached to a plant. Hoya kerrii, Hoya clemensiorum, Hoya meredithii, and the gardener whose name became the entire genus. A houseplant podcast from Gathering Moss. New episodes every Tuesday.

Latest episodes

Showing 6 · updated from the feed

Hoya anncajanoae; The Roots Ate Ana Left Behind

Grower sites say Hoya anncajanoae smells like caramel and drips nectar. This episode is about the woman inside that long name. Mary Ann Cajano, known as Ana, was a herbar

Oct 13
14 min

Thomas Hoy, Where Hoya Took Root

Who is hoya named after? Thomas Hoy, a working gardener at Syon House who served three Dukes of Northumberland across forty years. In 1810, botanist Robert Brown named an

Oct 6
31 min

Hoya kerrii: The Roots He Couldn't Leave

Who was Hoya kerrii named after? Arthur Francis George Kerr, an Irish doctor whose life became deeply rooted in Siam, now Thailand. Most people know Hoya kerrii as the h

Sep 29
30 min

Hoya clemensiorum: The Rooted Wanderers

Who was Hoya clemensiorum named after? Two people, not one. Joseph Clemens was an Army chaplain who followed his wife Mary into the field, from Hawaii to the Philippines

Sep 22
18 min

Prologue

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Why am I doing this?

Sep 16
2 min

Hoya Meredithii: Roots of Controversy

Who was Hoya meredithii named after? York Meredith, a plantsman of Dee Why, New South Wales. And there is a real, credentialed challenge to the plant's own name that it s

Sep 16
9 min