Pothos plants, which are also known as Devil’s ivy, and philodendron plants many times confuse people.
While they share many similarities, it’s important to note that both plants have their distinct differences.
Pothos and philodendron make great houseplants and can commonly be found adorning the living room and kitchen of many people, but with just a little knowledge of the differences between these two plants, you’ll know them apart the next time you see them.
Even though both plants belong to the Araceae family, they belong to two different genera. Pothos belongs to the Epipremnum genus and philodendron belongs to the Philodendron genus.
Thus, they will differ in their leaves in terms of shape and texture, among a few other differences including their growing conditions and habits.
The differences between Pothos vs. Philodendron aren’t that complicated to figure out once you’ve learned just a bit more about these two plants.
So, let’s take a closer look at their main differences.
Leaf Shape and Texture
You can easily identify pothos compared to philodendron often by looking at their leaves.
Philodendron leaves are more heart-shaped that are thinner with a soft texture, and the pothos leaves are generally larger, thicker, and waxier.
Additionally, if you look at the petiole that connects the leaf to the stem of the plant, you will see another difference.
The base of a pathos leaf tends to be relatively straight, whereas the base of a philodendron leaf definitely curves inwards. The philodendron leaves also tend to look less rounded at the tip of the heart base also.
Growth Habit and New Leaves
Cataphylls are little leaves which envelop the new leaf as it grows in an effort to protect it.
These small leaves will remain on the plant until the new leaf can emerge and stand upright on its own, so to speak.
When this does occur, the cataphylls will typically dry up, and fall off the plant.
This is yet another way to distinguish pothos vs philodendron.
For plant enthusiasts, when cataphylls are present, it will indicate that it is a philodendron plant, since pothos plants will grow new leaves from previous leaves.
Meaning, you will not see any cataphylls on the pothos plants as you do have the philodendron plants.
In contrast to this, when considering the new leaves that grow on each of these plants, you can notice the color and shape of each plant’s new leaves are different.
For instance, a new leaf on the pothos plant will be curled tightly, and slowly unfurl as time progresses. When the leaf has completely unfurled, it will also be a lighter shade of green than its older leaves. The older leaves, as they mature will darken over time.
Conversely, new leaves on philodendron plants will be completely encased by cataphylls.
You will only see the new leaves once the cataphylls have dried up and fallen off the plant, revealing a baby leaf with either a pinkish or yellow tint.
Have You Noticed: For philodendrons, leaves only turn greener as they mature.
Petioles and Aerial (Air) Roots
To start, both pothos and philodendron plants have very robust aerial roots.
This allows the plants to creep and vine around elements and makes them both good for a climbing plant. However, if you looked closely at the aerial roots you would be able to see a slight difference:
On a pothos plant, there is just one, relatively large aerial root for every single node present on the pothos.
On a philodendron, there can be ‘legs’ off each node or smaller aerial roots; philodendron plants can have more aerial roots in total compared to the pothos.
Because of this, the philodendron plant is often more wild and chaotic looking than a pothos, creating another reason it’s a great climbing plant.
For a pothos, the aerial root has a thick root and there is a single root to every node present on the plant.
Philodendron aerial roots are thinner and often grow in groups of two to six.
The petioles on the terrible two are also drastically different from one another.
Because these two have different growth habits, their petioles don’t look the same.
Pothos petioles indent towards the stem that they are connected to, while philodendron petioles are more round in appearance.
Philodendron petioles can also be thinner than pothos petioles.
Growing Differences
There are even more differences between pothos and philodendron plants than we have discussed so far, but before we move to those differences, let’s take a moment to discuss the similarities that both plants absolutely share:
- Both pothos and philodendron plants require little maintenance, and have the potential to grow well for nearly anyone.”
- They are also very similar when it comes to their growing requirements, such as light, water temperature and soil.
So, it seems there are not too many differences between the two plants when it comes to their growing needs, but there are some differences.
First of all, while both plants do well in low-light conditions, pothos plants do much better in low light compared to philodendron plants.
For example, while both of the plants can eventually start to get leggy and begin to grow weakly in low light, philodendron plants will begin to get leggy quicker than pothos plants, and will often start to grow much smaller leaves due to not receiving enough light.
In contrast, pothos plants have a leaf size that seems to be unaffected by low light in terms of growth. This is because pothos plants grow better in lower light than philodendron.
Pothos plants are also more drought tolerant than philodendron plants, and, when taking cuttings from them, it is slightly easier to grow them from regular cuttings than the philodendron plant.”
This means they would be easier for someone who forgets to water their houseplants, or is in a situation where they receive a cutting and want to start a plant, to grow and maintain.
For This Point: It seems that pothos plants are a tiny bit tougher and sturdy compared to the philodendron plants, but this does not mean that philodendron plants are not sturdy.
Some Other Differences Between the Two Plants
Aside from those variations, you might also want to consider other differences between pothos and philodendron plants.
For example, look at the stems of the pothos as compared to the philodendron.
What you will note is the following:
- The stems of the pothos plant are thick and have roughly the same color as the leaves
- The stems of the philodendron plant are thinner than the stems of the pothos plant, the stems are a greenish brown color with an orange-brown at the bottom.
As mentioned earlier, both the pothos and philodendron plants belong to the Araceae family. However, the taxonomic classification of both plants differs greatly.
There are many different types of both plants. Here are some examples of the pothos and philodendron plants:
Pothos plants are golden pothos, jade pothos, and neon pothos. These different plants belong to the species acrimnum aureum.
The most common philodendron plant is called the heartleaf philondendron, which belongs to the species of philodendron hederaceum.
There are other types of philodendron plants such as phildendron brasil, which has a lime-green stripe down the middle, and philodendron micans stalks, which have soft velvet like color of leaves.
These are some more differences between pothos plants and philodendron plants, but there are also many different species of both types of plants.
Let’s face it, it’s just fun to have different plants around your house to make everything look decorative and feel way more fun to live in.
When you shop for a pothos plant or a philodendron plant, you do not have to that concerned about how you will take care of either plant.
Great Advice: Just be sure to read the label, and follow each of their directions, and both your pots and philodendron plants should continue to grow for a long time.
Are There Other Plants That Are Similar?
And speaking of pothos and philodendron plants that look alike, there is another plant in the Araceae family that looks like both of these plants.
It is called the Scandipsus pictus, but it is referred to as Satin pothos.
Ironically, it is not a pothos monster at all, but it looks so much like one, that is what people call it.
The growth requirements for the satin pothos plants is along the same lines as the pothos and philodendron plants, but it’s just the leaf pattern that makes it look a little different than both of these plants.
The satin pothos plants have patches of shimmery silver all over their leaves, making it look quite shiny and satin-like.
When you look at the satin pothos’ leaves, you can instantly identify a satin pothos plant.
Don’t forget: you should also remember that in addition to some of these plants I have mentioned in this article, there are other varieties of both pothos and philodendron plants that look very similar to one another!
Final Words
With that said, you now have a few tools that you can turn to determine the difference between these two kinds of plants so you can take better care of the plants from now on.