Philippine Hoyas Special Stamps

The Philippine Postal Corporation will come up with the 2011 First Quarter Issue featuring the Philippine Hoyas stamps on March 8. It is classified as a "Special" kind of issue with denomination of P 7.00 with quantity of 100,000 pieces and 5,000 pieces of souvenir sheet of P 28.00, respectively.

Hoya, commonly called wax plant, belongs to the Asclepiadaceae family. They are once part of the Apocinaceae family. In the Philippines, hoyas can be found all over the islands at all altitudes. As early as 1837, Philippine Hoyas was mentioned in the publication of Flora de las Islas Filipinas. To date there are 51 species which have been identified. Hoyas are evergreen climbing vines or shrubs growing to 1-10 m (or more with suitable support in trees). They have simple opposite leaves 5-30 cm long that are typically succulent. The flowers appear in axillary umbellate clusters at the apex of 2-3 cm peduncles, with repeated clusters of flowers developing sequentially on each peduncle.