Uncle Phil arrived last Tuesday.

As is his usual tradition, he arrived sitting on the tailgate of Uncle Jerry’s wicked shiny, black Turbo Charged Ram pick-up.  The one with the really cool semi-airborne silver ram hood ornament and matching mud flaps.

Uncle Phil is serious about big trucks.  Partly out of his sense of style, and partly out of necessity.  To say he has let himself “grow a bit this summer” would be missing the mark (if you know what I mean).  Since Uncle Phil has gotten big and “leggy” this summer, he doesn’t travel well, plus he hates the cold weather.  So every November for the past 3 Novembers, he has come to stay at my house for the winter. 

He comes with his watering can, plant stand, water dish and enough “Miracle Grow” to last until May. 

You see….Uncle Phil is my neighbors monstrous Philodendron!

Uncle Phil is a family treasure.  We are all in agreement that he is very good looking and has a very big heart!  In fact, all of his leaves are in the shape of beautiful, shiny, variegated “hearts”.   No one is really sure how old Uncle Phil is in plant years or where he actually came from or if Phil is even his real name!  Since he doesn’t look at all like any of us, I decided to do a little research into Uncle Phil’s family tree. 

Some of us thought he might be from the Pothos Family.  Some thought the Philodendron Family.  I was determined to uncover, once and for all, the true identity of Uncle Phil, and in so doing help all people of curiosity, understand the difference between a Pothos plant and a Philodendron plant.

For all of the apparent structural similarities, the Pothos (Devil’s Ivy) and the Philodendron are two separate and distinct plants that belong to separate genera.  Pothos belongs to the EPIPREMNUM genus and Philodendron belongs to the PHILODENDRON genus.  However they both belong to the same family called ARACEAE.  One of the easiest things to identify on these two plants is the noticeable “heart” shaped leaves.  Looking at the Philodendron leaf it has definitely more of a heart shape to it than the Pothos.  It also has a thinner and a softer texture.  Pothos have larger heart shaped leaves that are thicker and waxier to the feel.  Both plants have aggressive aerial roots that allow them to climb as a vine, however Pothos only have one large aerial root per node, while Philodendron have several smaller aerial roots per node which tends to make them look more wild, untamed, and tangled.

Another way to tell the difference between Pothos and Philodendron is how the new leaves emerge.   New leaves on the Philodendron emerge from a leaf structure called a  CATAPHYLL.    It is actually a small leaf capsule that encases and protects the new full leaf as it grows.  The cataphyll remains on the stem of the plant until the new leaf unfurls, whereupon it dries up and falls off.  Pothos on the other hand do NOT have cataphylls, new leaves on Pothos simply grow and unfurl from the junction of previous leaves and the main stem.

These low maintenance house plants have very similar needs when it comes to “light”, “soil”, “water” and “room temperature”.  In low light Philodendrons will get “leggy” and their leaves will stay small.  Pothos seem pretty tolerant to everything you do or don’t do to it.  It seems well adapted to my “hands off” approach to house plant gardening.  And yet it LIVES.

I was surprised to discover that both the Pothos and the Philodendron are tropical vines that thrive in the warmer, humid islands of the Caribbean and South Pacific, particularly French Polynesia where they grow wild and get quite expansive.   One final piece of information about these hardy little houseplants is that they were both listed as the top two best plants to clean indoor air.  Research done by NASA in the 1980’s found that these plants help remove common indoor pollutants like those found in wall to wall carpets, furniture, building materials and cleaning products.  That study further recommends having at least 15 air cleaning house plants for the average 2,000 square foot home.

So, in conclusion, and upon deep background checking, it would appear that undoubtedly Uncle Phil is now actually Uncle Pothos from some exotic tropical island, who can be identified by his Big Hearts, bright  shiny skin and tolerance to being overlooked most of the time. And yet he survives undaunted, sitting on his plant stand pumping out fresh oxygen for Bailey and I to enjoy all winter long.  He’s always welcome.

Cheers,

Deb (December 2020 Horticultural Newsletter)