Sweet One
A historical pink-flowered selection associated with Genevieve McDonald and medium-sized leaves.
Historical descriptions of Sweet One, its reported McDonald origin, and the limits of identifying later labelled plants.
Overview
Sweet One is a historical cultivated selection associated with Genevieve McDonald. Burton’s 2005 account describes medium-sized leaves, while the 2006 cultivar list praises its pink flowers. These publications document use of the name; the original cultivar naming publication and date have not been established. McDonald’s plants were reported to have come from garden seed of unknown parentage. Connecting a plant now labelled Sweet One to that historical selection requires a documented propagation history.
Related profiles: Little Star
Photo Gallery
No identity-, rights-, and profile-reviewed photographs are available yet.
Evidence-Based Growing Insights
No form-specific care conclusion has passed review. The parent Hoya page remains the source for shared information; generic advice is not repeated here.
What We Know
- Burton’s 2005 account gives Sweet One leaves as approximately 3½ × 2 inches, or roughly 9 × 5 cm. This is an approximate historical observation, not a minimum-to-maximum size range or an identification test for every later plant bearing the name.
- The 2006 cultivar list describes Sweet One as a McDonald cultivar and particularly praises its pink flowers. That favourable comparison records Burton’s experience; it is not a standardized colour measurement or evidence of a universal flower size, scent or blooming season.
- Burton reports that McDonald collected seed from plants in her Florida garden without knowing whether it resulted from self-pollination or crosses. Burton repeated the origin account in 2010, referring to insect-pollinated pods and unknown pollen donors. These publications repeat one reporter’s account; they do not supply several independent parentage verifications.
- Green and Kloppenburg’s 2006 list places Sweet One among carnosa mutants, in a compilation drawn from catalogs and correspondence. Burton instead reported seedlings of unknown parentage. The list heading does not establish a mutation, and the competing accounts do not provide a verified cross or genetic-origin finding.
- The BCSS Teesside account describes a vigorous plant with relatively large, glossy, flecked leaves. Its growing conditions and measurements are not supplied. This is an observation about that cultivated plant, not a demonstrated growth rate or care requirement for every Sweet One.
- The gallery account says its plant had been received as H. bandaensis before being identified as Sweet One following Burton’s advice. This documents a reported label correction for one plant. It does not establish bandaensis as a synonym or supply an authenticated chain back to McDonald’s original selection.
- Sweet One and Cream One appear as separate names despite a similar leaf-size report. Shared appearance or membership in the McDonald seedling group does not establish that they are the same cultivar. Long-term stability and continuity among modern Sweet One plants remain unverified in these records.
What We Are Still Learning
When was Sweet One first named as a cultivar?
What would help: The original dated description, nursery catalog, Florida Market Bulletin notice or contemporary correspondence, including its complete passage and imprint. Later accounts and acquisition dates do not establish the naming date.
Can the original selection and parentage be documented?
What would help: McDonald’s original labels, correspondence or seed records identifying the selected plant and any known seed and pollen parents. Retain unknown parentage where the records do not resolve it.
Which living plants have a documented connection to the historical selection?
What would help: Dated acquisition and propagation records, preserving gaps, plus leaf and flower photographs of the same plant. Include exact received labels and any later identification changes.
Can comparable observations or photographs be added?
What would help: Measurements and repeated observations from documented plants, with age and growing conditions. Photographs need creator credit and explicit display permission or a verifiable reuse license; the historical gallery image requires permission.
Common Misconceptions
- Publication of an account in 2005 or 2006 does not establish the first naming date of Sweet One.
- A mutant-list heading is not experimental proof of a mutation, and an open-pollinated seedling report does not establish a particular hybrid cross.
- Several reports by the same author are not independent confirmations of parentage.
- A plant once labelled bandaensis does not establish that name as a synonym of Sweet One.
- Similar leaves do not establish that Sweet One and Cream One are the same selection.
- The availability of a photograph online does not itself grant permission to reproduce it.