Last Updated on January 19, 2023 by Plant Mom Care
Several different varieties and cultivars of Pothos have been developed by horticulturists from one particular variety, Epipremnum aureum.
These evergreen plants belong to the Araceae aroid family and most have thick, waxy, cordate leaves in many different variations and color variations of green, white, yellow, and cream.
They are commonly grown indoors as hanging or climbing plants that attain great heights outdoors, using aerial roots to anchor themselves to tall trees and other structures. Outdoor plants generally have larger leaves than their indoor brethren. These plants are easily propagated by cuttings and rarely produce flowers.
Marble Queen Pothos
This highly variegated evergreen perennial cultivar is a vine capable of climbing to more than 10 feet high. The bright green glossy oval leaves are heavily streaked and spotted with creamy white colors.
While it can produce unimpressive flowers of cream-yellow or green spikes encircled by a spathe, this rarely occurs. This versatile cultivar easily tolerates low light and is rather easy to maintain, growing well almost anywhere indoors and doesn’t need regular repotting or pruning to thrive.
- Light: bright indirect lighting.
- Soil: soil that drains well.
- Height: 5-10 feet long (indoors)
- Growth Rate: fast.
Read Our Marble Queen Pothos Care Guide
Snow Queen Pothos
This stunning pothos variety displays highly variegated oval green and white leaves, unlike Marble Queen pothos which has more green in its leaves. This plant needs plenty of light to sustain its variegation which can revert to plain green under low light. While it does flower it rarely does so indoors.
Like other cultivars, it climbs, vines, and trails, looking lovely when it climbs up moss poles or in hanging baskets or as potted tabletop plants.
- Light: bright indirect lighting.
- Soil: well-aerated and well-draining soil.
- Height: 6-10 ft. long (indoors)
- Growth Rate: slow to moderate.
Neon Pothos
This eye-catching and popular variety of pothos is a low-maintenance plant that will brighten up offices and rooms. This striking variety has brilliant neon green oval leaves and a vining habit. Indoor plants generally produce smaller 5-inch leaves while outdoor plants produce large 20-inch leaves.
This is an energetic grower and grows well from hanging baskets that allow the trailing vines to fall freely. Since it can tolerate low light, it can be kept in bathrooms or windowless offices. Cuttings can survive for years in water, making it easy to keep them on hard-to-reach locations such as high shelves.
- Light: tolerates low lighting but grows better under indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: about 5 feet tall indoors.
- Growth Rate: fast.
Read Our Neon Pothos Care Guide
Variegated Neon Pothos
This variety features variegations of brilliant yellow and white (including light green) on its oval leaves, including the stems. The unusual appearance, texture of the leaves, and relatively low maintenance are prized by plant collectors.
This variety is particularly stunning when grown in groups, in hanging baskets, or decorative pots. Mature plants grow to 5 feet indoors but can reach more than 20 feet outdoors. Provide it with suitable conditions and proper care to let it thrive and produce a ravishing display.
- Light: indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: 5 feet tall.
- Growth Rate: moderate.
Silver Satin Pothos (S. Pictus)
This evergreen vine stands out due to its cascading oval green leaves with attractive silvery marbling variegation and a satin-like texture.
This tropical vine is equally simple to grow as its cousins as it is beginner-friendly and requires very little maintenance and rewards you with striking foliage for minimal effort. The stems grow about 3 feet long or more indoors and reach 10 feet long outdoors in frost-free locations.
Regular pruning can make the plant become bushier as a potted plant or simply let the vines trail over the sides of hanging baskets. Alternatively, you can train the vines to climb up moss poles or walls.
- Light: indirect bright light – insufficient light will affect variegation.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: 3 feet long or more indoors.
- Growth Rate: slow to moderate.
Read Our Silver Satin Pothos Care Guide
Cebu Blue Pothos
This plant is endemic to the Philippines and tropical Asia and Australia, including South & Central America. The leaves of this variety are thin and long silvery blue-green leaves, unlike the typical oval leaves of most varieties of pothos. It can reach 40 feet long outdoors with leaves larger than 4 inches. Indoor plants will only grow about 10 feet long with leaves between 2 – 4 inches.
This plant has two distinct growth phases – juvenile and mature. In its juvenile phase, the leaves can be green, blue-gray, blue-green, and/or silvery-blue, with healthy plants displaying a mix of all colors. Plenty of light will encourage vivid coloration.
The leaves turn greener and form a zigzag division at their ends when the plant matures. Mature leaves are four inches long or more.
You can train the stems to climb up moss poles or let them trail from hanging baskets or a high shelf.
- Light: medium to indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining but moist soil.
- Height: 8 – 10 feet long indoors.
- Growth Rate: fast.
Global Green Pothos
This colorful variety is a beautiful newcomer that has leaves with different shades of green variegation with dark green edges and occasional blotches of cream or white.
While it is a newly introduced variety, it’s as easy to cultivate as other varieties of pothos. It has been widely grown either as an indoor potted or hanging plant or as a gorgeous specimen in gardens. It’s usually pruned as an attractive mound when sold in stores and becomes a climbing or trailing vine when it matures.
- Light: indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: 5-10 feet long.
- Growth Rate: fast.
N’Joy Pothos
This delightful cultivar has intense green and cream to yellow variegated leaves and was produced by a breeding program to develop brighter variegated leaves in 2002 after a natural mutation occurred in a form of Marble Queen Pothos.
It can grow more than 30 feet long outdoors, but only on trails or climbs to 10 feet indoors. Trailing stems will take root if they touch the soil.
The variegation changes according to the light it receives – plants grown in low light conditions fade to green while brighter conditions enhance variegation.
- Light: indirect bright lighting.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: 6 – 9 inches tall and about 10 feet indoors.
- Growth Rate: slow.
Harlequin Pothos
This plant is named for its distinctive variegated leaves that have large areas of white beside some green in its foliage.
While it looks similar to another variety, the Manjula pothos, the difference between them is that the Harlequin has less green and more white in its variegated leaves than the Manjula, besides this plant is rarer and more expensive than the Manjula. The stems reach an average length of 5-10 feet.
- Light: indirect bright lighting.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: it can reach 5-10 long.
- Growth Rate: fast.
Baltic Blue Pothos
This plant has bright green leaves that take on a bluish tinge when mature and develop fenestrations and splits like a small monstera. It is suitable to grow desks or tabletops when young, allowing the stems to grow horizontally or keep it in hanging baskets to let the stems trail down gracefully on the sides of the pot.
Grow it vertically up on a moss pole or other trellis. No matter what method you choose, it will perform equally well. It can grow more than 60 feet long outdoors but only reaches around 12 feet long indoors.
- Light: Moderate to indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining and rich soil.
- Height: 12 feet long indoors.
- Growth Rate: fast.
Manjula pothos
This rare patented cultivar has characteristics that are comparable to two other pothos cultivars – pearls and jade pothos and enjoy pothos, even though it is acknowledged as a separate and distinct cultivar. It has wide, oval green leaves variegated with shades of white, cream, silver, and light green.
Every leaf is different – some have large green patches while others are heavily splashed and flecked. Another distinctive way to differentiate this variety from other varieties is that the leaves don’t lie flat and have wavy edges, unlike other pothos varieties.
Mature plants growing outdoors in tropical settings can reach between 20 – 40 feet long while indoor plants only go up to 6 feet long.
- Light: indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: up to 6 feet long.
- Growth Rate: slow.
Pearl & Jade Pothos
This plant with its stunning white and green variegated leaves, is among the many lavish varieties available. The leaves are much thinner and smaller than golden or marble queen pothos, with marginally different variegation patterns as well.
While caring for this plant is similar to other pothos varieties, there are a few differences – it will not tolerate low light, unlike other varieties. It can potentially reach 30 feet in length outdoors while you can keep it at an acceptable compact height of 6 – 10 feet indoors by pruning long vines.
- Light: indirect bright lighting.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: pruning will keep it at a height of 6 – 10 feet indoors.
- Growth Rate: slow.
Hawaiian Pothos
This gold and green variegated variety are similar to both golden and giant pothos varieties. This beauty is very easy to maintain and tolerates neglect. The shiny textured leaves grow between 5 – 12 inches long. It can grow 25 – 45 feet long outdoors but can be kept down to 1 – 4 feet indoors. The huge leaves create a nice gold and green display when the vines grow up a moss pole or trail from a basket.
It is an easy plant to grow indoors and a good gift to give inexperienced gardeners. The vines can grow rather long in time so pruning is necessary to control and contain the plant and also encourages new side foliar growth to keep the plant looking full and bushy.
- Light: indirect bright lighting.
- Soil: well-draining soil.
- Height: can grow around 10 feet long.
- Growth Rate: fast
Glacier Pothos
This is a small variety with a lovely white and green contrast on its small round leaves. Its compact size makes it perfect to keep in small spaces and on desks. Its variegation is also slightly different as it features three colors – a close look at the leaves reveals an intermediate silver coloring between the green and white areas.
The white markings are different too, streaky instead of patchy, as with the snow queen or NJoy varieties – this differentiates it from the other two varieties.
This hardy climbing plant is highly recommended for beginners and frequent travelers as it adapts to several conditions and environments. It cannot tolerate low light as growth will become slow as the white areas of the leaves don’t photosynthesize very well.
- Light: moderate or indirect bright light.
- Soil: moist but well-draining soil.
- Height: 6 feet long indoors.
- Growth Rate: slow.
Jessenia Pothos
This variety just recently hit the market in 2014. It needs more light to support its beautiful variegation and growth. Characterized by oval green leaves marked with light green and chartreuse variegation, this plant is relatively easy to care for.
Like its many relatives, this variety rarely flowers indoors although its lengthy trailing vines are colorful enough to brighten almost any room in your house.
While it almost looks similar to Marble Queen pothos, it’s usually easy to differentiate between the two as the variegation of Marble Queen is lighter than the lime-green variegation of Jessenia.
This vine can grow almost 30 feet long outdoors and 10 feet long when grown indoors.
- Light: indirect bright light.
- Soil: well-aerated and well-draining soil.
- Height: 10 feet long indoors.
- Growth Rate: slow.
