Imagine a houseplant. Think of it trailing from an understated ceramic pot, possibly on a bookshelf or in the corner of a kitchen. Chances are you thought of something that looks like devil’s ivy. These twisty, near-unkillable vines (Latin name Epipremnum aureum, but commonly – if technically incorrectly – known as pothos) with their elegant tangle of lush, heart-shaped leaves hail from the French Polynesian island of Mo’orea, but they’ve become Britain’s most ubiquitous houseplant. From hair salon to office, or wherever you’re reading this, there’s probably one a few metres away.
They’re so common that you can play a kind of botanical Where’s Wally with pothos: they snake over shelves in Anthropologie and & Other Stories, drape from hanging planters in coffee shops, and contrast with the concrete of the Barbican in London, where head gardener Marta Lowcewicz says they’re chosen because they are “low maintenance”.
“In 2017, we sold 600 of them,” says Freddie Blackett of Patch Plants, the millennials’ answer to the nursery catalogue. “In 2022, that had increased to 27,000.” And that is a drop on the numbers of devil’s ivy Patch sold during lockdown, when it would shift up to 1,000 a day (more on this later).
Houseplants have been climbing steadily back into fashion for a decade or more, thanks to a resurgence in retro interiors trends and a desire among millennials to connect with nature. But while fiddle-leaf figs and swiss cheese plants spearheaded the trend, no plant has remained as quietly popular as the pothos. “They are the symbol of that indoor plant resurgence,” says Blackett.
One reason for this is that the pothos is a perfect beginners’ plant, which can put up with low light levels, poor watering and sporadic abandonment. But if you do treat them nicely, they grow and can be propagated quickly – even the most clumsy cutting will root and leaf with abandon.
In fact, it is easier to keep a pothos living miserably than to kill it outright. “If conditions are not very good, it doesn’t die so much as sit there and wait until things improve,” says houseplant expert and podcaster Jane Perrone.
I had a string of them – all descended from one mother plant – adorning a 1960s bookcase for several years, and largely neglected. While succulents and calatheas would never have survived that basement flat, the pothos lived on.
Behind its appealing bland appearance lies a rich and intriguing botanical history. In her latest book, Legends of the Leaf, Perrone says nobody knew the true origin of E. aureum until the 1960s, mostly because devil’s ivy looks quite a lot like several other tropical vines pillaged by Victorian colonists.
It’s known as “shy-flowering”: only in the past decade have the plants been encouraged to flower consistently thanks to the application of hormones. The flowers are fairly unremarkable, but they have enabled plant breeders to conjure new cultivars – only furthering the pothos’s broad appeal.
But perhaps what’s most astonishing about the devil’s ivy is that, despite its ubiquity, few of us will see it as it is meant to be. “The leaves we’re seeing in our homes are the juvenile form,” says Perrone. “If you go to the glasshouse at RHS Wisley in Surrey, you can see a mature one. The leaves are huge, about 60cm across. That only happens when the plant is allowed to climb and grow several metres high.”
The mid-20th century was a big era for the pothos – it came into vogue for the first time since people started growing it at home in the 1920s. In 1956, Terence Conran reflected a new interest in houseplants by including it in his Plant Life dinnerware service for Midwinter – specifically, the dessert plate – alongside a rubber plant (Ficus elastica) and a Sansevieria, commonly known as mother-in-law’s tongue.
While swiss cheese and spider plants vanished in the 1980s, the pothos never entirely went away. By the 1990s, it had become a subject of that rare thing in gardening books: derision. “People really love this ugly plant, perhaps because it’s easy to grow,” wrote garden designer Andy Sturgeon in his 2001 book Potted. “They seem to do really well in chip shops.”
It took another 15 years for the pothos to climb back to popularity, aided by the internet. On Pinterest it proliferated as a kind of sexy bed vine, bedecking four-posters and trailing from minimalist shelves. Influencer Jamie Song, who runs Instagram account Jamie’s Jungle, fields questions daily from his 330,000 followers about the pothos that has smothered the wall behind his sofa since the mid-2010s; he uses clear plastic light clips to achieve the illusion of gravity defiance.
I bought my first pothos in 2016, from Conservatory Archives, one of the first designer houseplant stores to appear in east London. I strung it from my ceiling in a macrame plant hanger, itself a 1970s throwback, and watched it double in size in a matter of months. Scientific studies at the turn of the century showed that pothos were among the handful of plants to purify air. While recreating such effects at home would require dozens of the things, this factoid was nevertheless shared widely online.
As Patch’s sales figures attest, lockdown cemented the plant’s return to glory, with people tending their homes, and curating greenery-filled Zoom backdrops. “There aren’t many houseplants that you can trail like a pothos,” says horticultural historian Catherine Horwood, author of Potted History. She would know – she has a silver one draped across a room, complete with fairy lights.
“They play so many roles,” adds Blackett. “They can fill various levels of a bookshelf or be strung along a mantlepiece. They really can do a lot of plants’ jobs.”
To show a pothos in its best light, let it grow upwards. A trellis made from wide-gauge black mesh fencing is the latest plant nerd hack, says Perrone: “Ultimately, for the lushest growth, you have to give it something to support itself with. And dust it!” A gentle once-over with a damp cloth once a week will keep those leaves shiny.
But while the pothos is here to stay, the reign of the golden pothos – which has flecks of a paler yellow on its green leaves – may be coming to an end. “We’ve seen varieties such as the marble queen, which has white-patterned leaves – give the golden pothos a proper run for its money,” says Blackett. White variegation is becoming increasingly popular in houseplants, and it’s a lot easier to match with interiors than yellow. Ubiquity has arrived in another colourway: the king of houseplants is dead, long live the queen.
Five more unkillable houseplants
Snake plant
(Dracaena trifasciata)
Indestructible. The snake plant thrives on forgetfulness, making it perfect for those who occasionally let their plants fend for themselves. Resilient to drought and temperature extremes (from 5C to 27C), it’s the great survivor of the plant kingdom.
Allow it to go thirsty, and you may see its leaves slightly dehydrated and withered, but this is easily reversed with a good watering.
ZZ plant
(Zamioculcas zamiifolia)
Versatility personified, the ZZ plant tolerates anything except direct sunlight. This tropical rhizomatous plant from east Africa, with thick stems that narrow to a tip, has smooth, glossy, dark green, pinnate leaves and grows up to a metre high. With minimal demands and resistance to neglect, it’s the plant that whispers, “I’ve got this.”
Barrel cactus
(Echinocactus grusonii)
Hailing from central Mexico, the barrel cactus wears its toughness like a crown. Requiring water only half the year, it scoffs at neglect. It can survive for over 100 years, a prickly testament to endurance and the beauty of low-maintenance companionship.
Cast iron plant
(Aspidistra elatior)
As robust as its name suggests, the cast iron plant is a hero for the laidback plant parent, surviving and thriving in poor light, fluctuating temperatures and poor air quality. Direct sunlight avoidance is its only requirement, and in return this plant will offer unyielding resilience.
String of hearts
(Ceropegia linearis subsp. Woodii)
This delicate evergreen vine, originating from southern Africa, boasts tubers that store water, making it a drought-resistant marvel and the ideal companion to a busy life. The string of hearts not only endures unintentional neglect but graces it with a touch of elegance.
