Vivy - you do not sound stupid at all- you sound like you have a green thumb and very soon you will have a growing collection. It is practically impossible to find the name of the plant if you didn't have it named from the very beginning - and there will always be a doubt if it is actually a Sunshine or one of several dozen lookalikes. The way to send leaves - ziplock baggies - inflated - and a box. No envelopes - they will get squashed. We all started with no-names and it is great that you have such a green touch. Eventually you will be interested in getting named varieties and creating the collection. In my personal opinion extra NOIDs should be shared with friends and neighbours, given as gifts and donated to the nursing homes. There so many gorgeous named varieties - look at avsa.org Photographs - and you will discover something you just MUST have. Look at the "Affiliates" - they have a list of clubs - if there is a one in your vicinity - you may be interested to visit their meeting or show, may be even join - and that the place where people share knowledge and cuttings. You will get lots of leaves - believe me. Good luck i.

To help clarify this issue, the source of the violet doesn't necessarily make it a noid or not. Think of it like this: Mom violet and Dad violet are hybridized to develop new strains, and we'll call them A, B, C, etc. As long as violet A is accompanied by its ID bracelet (name label), it will always be Violet A to anyone it meets. Any plants begun with leaves from Violet A will also be known as Violet A. If Violet A loses its ID bracelet, it now becomes a NOID, because it is almost impossible to POSITIVELY identify it as Violet A. The only way to ID the plant is thru personal knowledge of the plants name, or the ID bracelet. Plant names are registered by the hybridizer. Many big commercial hybridizers don't bother to register plants, or the knowledge of the name eventually dies out. If you think of roses, hybridizers are continually developing new varieties and registering them with their name, such as Peace, Tropicana, Mr. Lincoln, Chrysler Imperial, ad infintum. Same with violets but in greater numbers. I have a violet called Rhapsody in White. If I take the label away and my husband gives a leaf to a coworker and has no idea of the name, it becomes a NOID to the new owner. There are so many white blossomed violets the chances of the new owner discovering the name are very slim. They probably would just call it 'that great big white one.' Barbara

Hi Laura, it looks like Hoya muliflua. I've seen the next set of buds like yours alot this year, more then before for some reason. Beautiful blooms. Jan

The one above looks similar to my Gold Drop: