Epipremnum aureum

The Golden Pothos is the archetypal beginner houseplant, prized for its trailing vines of heart-shaped leaves splashed with irregular yellow variegation. In the wild it climbs rainforest trunks as a hemiepiphyte, its juvenile leaves staying small until it finds something to scale, at which point the foliage grows significantly larger. Its tolerance of low light, irregular watering, and general neglect has made it a fixture of offices and homes across the globe. Propagation is famously easy from stem cuttings rooted in water, which has helped cement its status as the plant most people grow first.

Native range

Native to Mo'orea in the Society Islands, French Polynesia; now naturalised and cultivated worldwide as one of the most widely grown houseplants.

Classification

Genus

Epipremnum

Family

Araceae

Type

Wild

Growth habit

Trailing/climbing hemiepiphyte

Morphology

Leaf shape

CordateHeart-shaped foliage, featuring a rounded notch (sinus) where the leaf stem attaches. (heart-shaped)

Leaf length

10-20cm (larger when climbing)

Leaf width

8-15cm

Petiole colour

Green

Venation

PinnateVeins or lobes arranged like a feather, branching out symmetrically on both sides of a single main central vein.

Texture

Glossy, waxy

Variegation

Irregular golden-yellow splashes on green

Growth habit

Trailing or climbing