Pothos Identification Guide

Key Identifying Features

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum, also called devil's ivy) is a trailing/climbing vine identified by:

• Thick, waxy, heart-shaped leaves with a slightly leathery feel.
• Frequent gold, white, or cream variegation splashed irregularly across the leaf.
• Long, trailing or climbing stems with aerial roots at the nodes.

Leaves often have a subtle asymmetry — one side of the heart slightly larger than the other.

Leaves & Stems

Pothos leaves are glossy, firm, and somewhat thick, usually 7–15 cm (3–6 in) on houseplants but able to grow huge (and develop splits) when climbing in the tropics. The leaf surface feels waxy and rigid compared to softer philodendron leaves.

Stems are green, grooved, and trailing, rooting readily at nodes. New growth emerges from the existing leaf — there is no papery protective sheath (cataphyll) wrapped around the new leaf, an important difference from philodendron. Popular forms include golden (yellow streaks), marble queen (heavy white marbling), neon (chartreuse), and jade (solid green).

Flowers & Fruit

Pothos almost never flowers in cultivation — mature flowering with an aroid spathe occurs only in old wild plants and requires a hormone the cultivated juvenile form lacks. For identification purposes, treat pothos as a non-flowering foliage vine.

How to Tell It Apart from Look-Alikes

The classic confusion is heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum):

• Leaf texture: pothos leaves are thicker, waxier, and slightly bumpy; philodendron leaves are thinner, softer, and more matte.
• New growth: philodendron new leaves emerge from a papery sheath (cataphyll) and are often reddish/bronze; pothos new leaves unfurl directly from the previous leaf and are pale green.
• Petiole: pothos petioles are grooved/indented; philodendron petioles are round in cross-section.
• Aerial roots: pothos has a single, stubby nub per node; philodendron often has multiple thin roots.

Where You'll Find It

Native to French Polynesia (Mo'orea) and naturalized across the tropics, where it can become an invasive climber smothering trees. As a houseplant it's ubiquitous worldwide for tolerating low light and irregular watering. Outdoors it survives only in frost-free, humid zones (10–12).

Quick ID Checklist

• Thick, waxy, glossy heart-shaped leaves
• Irregular gold/white/cream variegation (most forms)
• Slightly asymmetric leaf shape
• Grooved petiole, trailing stems, stubby aerial roots
• No papery cataphyll on new growth

If you see a tough trailing vine with thick, waxy, often-variegated heart leaves and grooved leaf stalks, it's pothos rather than a philodendron.