Full Name: Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ is the Accepted and Established name for a unique cultivar.
Synonyms: ‘Tri-Color’ and ‘Tri-color’ are established later synonyms (Plants Alive, June, 1977 pgs.71 &72).
‘Tri-Color’ is the name form B.L.Cobia preferred and so this was given careful consideration. This name form appeared widely across the United States and Netherlands in his print material particularly between 1977-the 80’s, alongside the USPP2950 and the well known expired trademark, KRIMSON QUEEN. See the photo above in this entry for one example from a Cobia mailer.
TRADE DESIGNATIONS: KRIMSON QUEEN was a registered trademark, and therefore trade designation, for exclusive use by B.L. Cobia. Its trademark status expired in 2002. It was not renewed at its 10 year expiration and had been inactive. Barnell Cobia died in 2003 one year later. Both during its active use by Cobia, but especially for decades later, the trademark name was widely incorrectly applied to many clones of variegated Hoya carnosa . Hoyas incorrectly labeled with only KRIMSON QUEEN cannot be assumed to be ‘Tricolor’. It is not a synonym or a name.
Name Background ‘Tricolor’ was Established with a description and reference in 1972 in USPP3105P, the patent for Hoya carnosa ‘Rubra’ which itself is a sport from Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’. Because the name was maintained in a Statutory Registry, it is the accepted name, even though it is confusable.
‘Tricolor’ was not clearly Established as a name in its own 1969 USPP2950 where it was further fully described as an ‘invention’. Instead, the patent provides additional valuable information about this plant. The patent for ‘Rubra’ references the color characteristics newly described in the plant patent of 1969, establishes the name Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’, and links the name to the matching expanded description in USPP2950. No name was submitted
Description and known provenance From the Hoya carnosa ‘Rubra’ patent, where the name is established, this is stated: “Plants of the Hoya carnosa Tricolor variety have variegated leaf blades which are similar in pattern to those of the Hoya carnosa variegated variety** but are preferred by comparing purchasers in the market place because of certain characteristic colors which, in immature and newly matured growth, appear in the albino or variegated areas of the leaf blades.”
Legal Status **Cobia’s Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ obtained the status of legal variety, which is not the same as the rank of variety (var.) under the ICN, but is equivalent to a cultivar. Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ was not a legal variety at any point and is not properly Accepted at the rank of variety (var.), as it is a cultivar).
Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ was fully described by Attorney Roger L.Martin for Barnell L.Cobia on December 9, 1969 in U.S.Plant Pat. 2,950., but as “VARIETY OF HOYA CARNOSA WITH TRICOLOR FOLIAGE”. For name given, attorney Roger L.Martin wrote only Hoya carnosa (CV), to indicate it was a cultivar of Hoya carnosa.
Description: In this full and detailed description, Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor was compared against Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ and “an unnamed variety”, which is mentioned throughout the patent and will be discussed in its own space. Page 1 of the patent in the abstract and through paragraph 5 states that the “unnamed variety” was introduced to the public, and is also described in the patent to compare against ‘Tricolor’. At the commencement of their horticultural program with Hoya, Cobia acquired stock plants of Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’. Sport selection was rigorous. One 1968 article described part of the operation “In the neatly lined greenhouse for research purposes, there are five plants of Hoya Variegata, each being a mother of the next, increasing in loveliness, with the process of mutation, to each new generation.” Townsend,P.(1968,Feb 8). Largest Hoya, Christmas Cactus Firm Located In Winter Garden,57.
‘Tricolor’ is developed from a long process of selection and improvement in Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ by Cobia,Inc. It appeared as a sport on what Cobia called an “unnamed variety” (cultigen; publication status to be addressed).
According to the description, ‘Tricolor’ is distinct from predecessors because it has a healthier, more robust appearance.
Additionally and primarily, it was selected for color characteristics that would lead to a healthier plant.
According to Cobia’s patent, Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ lacks chlorophyll in the margin of the leaf blades, and “In growth habit, …has a tendency to produce larger area of variegation in leaves that develop at the first three nodes which appear on new stems and branches, and this often gives the appearance of entirely or nearly-entire albino leaves on new breaks that develop from the propagation of stem cuttings.”
Cobia saw that tendency in the new growth of Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ (or more likely later relatives of ‘Variegata’ which have not been described, according to my own research, though this tendency comes from the named original cultivar), and recognized that it caused: weakness, the appearance of weakness, and deformed leaves. Cobia also saw that despite this, Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ was enormously popular in the market, and so worked hard to develop a plant which maintained variegation with long-lasting color in lieu of only white throughout the margins and new growth.
See USPP for exact description including color ranges and measurements. Below is only a series of excerpts from the Abstract which outlines how ‘Tricolor’ is differentiated from its predecessors:
- Larger herbaceous parts ; “stems, petioles, peduncles”, “wider and rounder leaf blades” (p.2-3 USPP 2950)
- a darker appearance in the plant parts as compared to the corresponding parts in unnamed (variety*), and Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’
- “variegated areas with attractive red and pink colors that gradually fade from the areas, and green fields that are overcast with red to red-purple hues which endow the fields with a blackish or sometimes brownish appearance to the ordinary eye and thereafter gradually fade from the fields…”
- “an inflorescence which is characterized by attractive purplish-red colored pedicels, petals that have an attractive purplish-pink colored epidermis and a purplish-red colored lower epidermis, sepals with red-purple hues, and corona segments that are more corpulent in comparison to those of Hoya carnosa variegata…”
Sources:
- B.L.Cobia, Inc. (1972). Hoya carnosa Rubra (U.S. Plant Patent No. 3,105). United States Patent Office. patents.google.com/patent/USPP3105P
- B.L.Cobia, Inc. (1969). Variety of Hoya carnosa with tricolor foliage (U.S. Plant Patent No. 2,950). United Stated Patent Office. patents.google.com/patent/USPP2950P/
- B.L.Cobia,Inc. (1971).KRIMSON QUEEN (Serial No.72337012 Reg. No.0905698).
- (1977, June). How new Hoya hybrids come to be. Plants Alive! p.71.
- Andrews,L. (1977, June). 50 Interesting Hoyas. Plants Alive! p.72.
- Townsend,P.(1968,Feb 8). Largest Hoya, Christmas Cactus Firm Located In Winter Garden,57.
Note: Many instances where names were written in invalid forms were left in place in order to be true to source material. Correct names can be found in this Cultivar Checklist. Please contact with questions, comments, and potential corrections.
B.L.Cobia Inc. patents were found in color (updated to color 7/2024) by Michael Green who has contributed a large volume of materials to the ICRA, many of these directly related to Cobia. The color Plant Patent is included here in full as a record of the nomenclatural type, as well as for further educational purposes. Many old patents are disappearing from online and offline archives. This discovery makes the confirmation and determination of some old cultivars more possible.