The vine is common to Apayao, La Union, Rizal, Bataan, Laguna, Mindoro, Palawan, Negros, Panay, and Leyte.

The flowers are reddish orange and have nectaries near the base of the central column from which a dark sap is produced that stains very easily.

In fact, its name is derived from the word "mellis" meaning honeydew and the word "fluo" meaning flow, referring to the dark nectar of the plant that stains the flowers.

Hoya meliflua was first described in 1837 by Francisco Manuel Blanco, who mistakenly identified it as a Stapelia.

Elmer Drew Merrill subsequently identified it as a Hoya, not Stapelia, and published it in Sp.