Types of Pothos (Epipremnum)

telos-exotics
Feb 23, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Feb 26, 2023

Genus: Epipremnum

Family: Araceae (Aroids)

There are countless resources for pothos plants, so we'll keep this brief with the essentials. Golden pothos (E. aureum) is one of the most common - and most hardy - plants commonly used in vivaria and kept as houseplants. E. pinnatum is most commonly encountered as the 'Cebu Blue' cultivar. E. amplissimum is starting to come into the rare houseplant scene as demand skyrockets from aroid collectors.

Within the Epipremnum genus, there are a bunch of fun cultivars with striking variation in leaf shape, color, and pattern. Here's link to A Review of Epipremnum (Araceae) in Cultivation, 2004 from the International Aroid Society.

Some key things to know: This plant prefers to climb upward on trees. Allowing it to do so will get you much larger leaves and increase chances of fenestration. It is suitable for planting in ambient household humidity, as well as high humidity vivs.

Don't use them in setups housing animals that are likely to eat the leaves (like a bearded dragon). The exception would be an animal that eats pothos in its natural diet, like prehensile-tailed skinks. It is commonly and safely used with herps who won't try to eat the leaves.

Epipremnum aureum

Widespread distribution in tropical areas across the world. While golden variegated plants are commonly encountered in the wild, they are considered to be escaped/introduced horticultural plants. True wild E. aureum appears to match the 'Jade' cultivar, originating from Mo'orea in French Polynesia.

'Golden' This is the most widespread type of E. aureum. It has streaks of yellow in the leaves when exposed to enough light.
'Hawaiian' Hawaiian pothos looks very similar to golden pothos - the main difference is they tend to have much larger leaves and more dense but fragmented yellow variegation.
'Jade' (wild type) Jade pothos have solid green leaves, with no golden streaks. A Golden pothos may look like a Jade if it is kept in low light.
'Manjula' Leaves are wider/rounder in general than other cultivars. Combination of splashes and speckles of white and varying shades of green. Plants with high white are sometimes called 'Harlequin.'
'Marble Queen' One of the oldest and most common cultivars. Marble Queen has a different marking pattern than golden, with more "fine detail" remaining of the normal green color among the variegated patches.
'Snow Queen' Same markings as 'Marble Queen,' but brighter white / more white.
'Neon' A diluted version of jade/golden pothos, tending toward a yellowish hue of lighter green. Occasionally you'll find white streaks consistent with the markings found on golden pothos.
'NJoy' and 'Glacier' These are two varieties that may be essentially the same, or may be distinct, depending on who you ask. 'NJoy' was originally filed for a patent in 2007. 'Glacier' is the name of an extremely similar cultivar sold by Costa Farms, starting around 2015. Whether or not 'Glacier' is 'NJoy' by a different name, both have relatively small leaves, and patches of green, dilute green, and white. Unlike 'Golden' and 'Marble Queen,' the patches are quite white and don't tend toward a yellow hue. There is also minimal speckling of green in the white patches.
'Pearls and Jade' Like 'NJoy,' with smaller than average leaves and patches of green, diluted green, and white. Main difference is much more speckling among the white patches.
'Emerald' Not terribly common, possibly from poor identification. 'Emerald' leaves are a little more round than normal and don't grow with as smooth of a surface (ripples/waves). Very faint markings consist of a lighter green with clean margins. Unlike 'Global Green,' markings occur along the edges and across the whole leaf, rather than just the center.
'Global Green' Slightly more rounded leaf shape. Typically the margins of the leaves are "normal" green, and patches toward the center of the leaf are a lighter green. Exclusively produced by Costa Farms.
'Jessenia' This cultivar is produced as a stable sport variety of 'Manjula' by Costa Farms. The leaves are primarily a slightly diluted green, with darker green flecks and patches. The minimal contrast might be why these don't seem to be common / readily available anymore.
'Shangri La' This cultivar is really not my thing. Its shriveled curly leaves look like a sad cursed version of a Golden pothos. The epitome of "they were too busy seeing if they could, to consider if they should." I'm sure some people like it - but only because it's different, not because it looks nice... I don't have one of these. I feel like I should to complete my collection, but I just can't be arsed to spend money on something that looks like the opposite of celebrating the beautiful variety plants come in.

Epipremnum pinnatum

This species is common worldwide throughout the tropics. Its wide native range extends from northern Australia up to southern Japan. Its primary common name is Centipede Tongavine outside of horticulture, derived from the "many-legged" centipede-like leaf fenestrations in mature foliage.

(wild type) A nice simple green form of the plant. I haven't come across any in cultivation yet.
'Cebu Blue' This cultivar originated from the island Cebu in the Philippines. Rather than green, the entire leaf is silvery-blue. 'Cebu Blue' leaves overall are smaller than other forms of E. pinnatum.
'Baltic Blue' This cultivar was produced by / is owned by Costa Farms. It has darker green leaves that lean towards a more blue-ish cast, and which tend to fenestrate at a smaller leaf size than usual.
'Albo' / 'Variegated' A version of the green wild type with white variegation.
'Key Leaf' / 'Skeleton Key' A cultivar which sports unusually shaped mature leaves. Rather than a long oval leaf with many bilateral fenestrations, the leaves retain normal shape at the base, but taper off to a very narrow tip.
'Marble' High white markings, very similar to 'Snow Queen' golden pothos.
'Aurea' / 'Yellow Flame' Yellow markings that present the same way as 'Golden' pothos.

Epipremnum amplissimum

Native to Southeast Asia. The leaves are proportionally quite long compared to E. pinnatum, and don't have the same tendency toward fenestration.

'Silver' (wild type)

Also called 'Silver Streak' - leaves have streaks of silver. Highly marked leaves may be almost entirely silver.

This is the typical juvenile state of the species, and not a distinct cultivar. Mature foliage only occasionally retains some of the silver markings.

It's possible in the future we'll see a cultivar significantly selected for silver markings that is distinct from the wild type, but that doesn't appear to be the case yet.