Skip to main content
  1. Family: Araceae Juss.

    1. Pothos L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is W. Indian Ocean, Tropical & Subtrop Asia to SW. Pacific.

    [CATE]

    CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

    Distribution
    W. Indian Ocean, Trop. & Subtrop Asia to SW. Pacific.
    Diagnostic
    Evergreen,climbing hemiepiphytes with tough woody stems; leaves distichous; petiole geniculate apically, broad, flattened, blade-like and lacking sheath, or normal with sheath (sometimes very reduced); leaf blade linear-lanceolate to elliptic, fine venation reticulate; spadix globose to cylindric, sessile to long-stipitate; flowers bisexual, periogoniate, densely or laxly arranged. Differs from Pedicellarum in having sessile flowers with free tepals (very rarely united basally). Differs from Pothoidium in having 3-locular ovaries and inflorescences always axillary.
    Habitat
    Tropical humid forest; usually climbing hemiepiphytes often in regrowth forest, rarely on rocks.
    General Description
    HABIT : climbing herbs, stems rather woody, lower branches rooting, upper ones free and hanging, nodes rarely bearing short, clustered spines ( P. armatus), buds of lateral shoots sometimes perforating the leaf sheath or ± infra-axillary. LEAVES : distichous, juvenile plants of some species of shingle form (petiole very short, blades broad, appressed, partially overlapping). PETIOLE : geniculate (articulate) apically, either broad, completely flattened and usually auriculate apically, or morphology normal with a long sheath, sometimes sheath reduced to a pair of hyaline ridges (series Goniurus). BLADE linear-lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, sometimes oblique; primary lateral veins either mostly arising near base of blade, long arcuate, and running into marginal vein near apex, or primary lateral veins pinnate, weakly differentiated, forming submarginal collective vein, 1-2 marginal veins also present, higher order venation reticulate in all types. INFLORESCENCE : axillary or infra-axillary, solitary or forming short branching systems of several inflorescences, bearing 4-6 (sometimes more, e.g. P. insignis) rigid, coriaceous cataphylls at the base, often bearing the spathe near the middle of peduncular axis. PEDUNCLE : short to long, sometimes reflexed. SPATHE : ovate to linear, rarely very long ( P. mirabili s). SPADIX : globose, ovoid, cylindric, ellipsoid or obovoid, sessile to long-stipitate, densely or laxly flowered. FLOWERS : bisexual, perigoniate; tepals 4-6, usually fornicate, free or partially to completely connate (e.g . P. rumphii). STAMENS : 4-6, filaments oblong, flattened, connective slender, thecae ellipsoid, dehiscing by slit. POLLEN : monosulcate, ellipsoid-oblong, small (mean 21 µm., range 16-25 µm.), exine foveolate to reticulate or subrugulate, muri psilate or minutely tuberculate. GYNOECIUM : ovary ovoid-oblong or depressed, (2?-)3-locular; ovules 1 per locule, anatropous, funicle short, placenta axile at base of septum, stylar region sometimes as broad as ovary, stigma discoid-hemispheric to umbonate. BERRY : ellipsoid to ovoid, 1-3-seeded, red. SEED : ellipsoid, testa smooth, embryo large, endosperm absent.

    Images

    Distribution

    Doubtfully present in:

    Réunion, West Himalaya

    Native to:

    Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, Comoros, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Queensland, Seychelles, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vanuatu, Vietnam

    Accepted Species

    Synonyms

    Other Data

    Pothos L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Boyce, P.C. [1207], Thailand 60246.000
    Deden, G. [863], Indonesia K000501409

    Bibliography

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 968 (1753)

    Accepted by

    • Boyce, P.C. (2009). A review of Pothos L. (Araceae: Pothoideae: Pothoeae) for Thailand Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 37: 15-26.
    • Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Sources

    Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

    CATE Araceae
    Haigh, A., Clark, B., Reynolds, L., Mayo, S.J., Croat, T.B., Lay, L., Boyce, P.C., Mora, M., Bogner, J., Sellaro, M., Wong, S.Y., Kostelac, C., Grayum, M.H., Keating, R.C., Ruckert, G., Naylor, M.F. and Hay, A., CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011.
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0