On the day before Valentine’s Day the flower stall outside the main entrance to Clapham Junction station, London Borough of Wandsworth, had addition to its usual stock and numerous bunches of  red roses, a tray of plants labelled ‘Hearts, £6’.  It was not possible to identify what the plants are but they appear to be detached, but presumably rooted, leaves of a species of Crassula or possibly a succulent Euphorbia.

Also on sale, at £3.00 reduced from £6.50, from a stall in the St Nicholas Market area, Bristol, 18 February 2015.

Updates     

1. These plants have since been identified as Hoya kerrii, lucky-heart, sweetheart plant, or Valentine’s hoya, native to southeast Asia.  Apparently it has been cultivated for sale around Valentine’s Day in North America for some years, but has only recently become available in the British Isles.  The plants on sale at Clapham Junction in 2015 were the first to be seen, but plants seen in a house window in St Albans, Hertfordshire on 27 February 2015 were older and had several leaves, looking as if they had survived from Valentine’s Day 2014.                        

2.  Still on sale, without price labels, at the Clapham Junction flower stall, 9 March 2015.                                                                                                                  

3. Two remaining, 20 March 2015.

Lower image: Mercat de La Concepció, Barcelona, Spain, 10 February 2017.

Updated 14 February 2017.