Epipremnum aureum

Epipremnum aureum is a species of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae, native to Mo'orea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The species is a popular houseplant in temperate regions, but has also become naturalised in tropical and sub-tropical forests worldwide, including northern Australia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Pacific Islands and the West Indies, where it has caused severe ecological damage in some cases. The plant has a multitude of common names including golden pothos, Ceylon creeper, hunter's robe, ivy arum, money plant, silver vine, Solomon Islands ivy and taro vine. It is also called devil's vine or devil's ivy because it is almost impossible to kill and it stays green even when kept in the dark. It is sometimes mistakenly labeled as a Philodendron in plant stores. It is commonly known as money plant in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. It rarely flowers without artificial hormone supplements; the last known spontaneous flowering was reported in 1964. The plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It has had a long history with nomenclature, being categorized as a few different species in the past. In 1880 when it was first categorized, it was labelled as a Pothos aureus, which is in part why it's often commonly referred to as a Pothos. After a flower was observed in 1962, it was given the new name of Raphidophora aurea. However, after closer examination of the flower, researchers noticed its heightened similarity to Epipremnum pinnatum and classified it as such. Only after further observations of all parts of the plant, including the leaves and growing patterns, was it separated from the E. pinnatum species and given its own classification of E. aureum. E. aureum is an evergreen vine growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall, with stems up to 4 cm (2 in) in diameter, climbing by means of aerial roots which adhere to surfaces. The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped, entire on juvenile plants, but irregularly pinnatifid on mature plants, up to 100 cm (39 in) long and 45 cm (18 in) broad; juvenile leaves are much smaller, typically under 20 cm (8 in) long. The flowers are produced in a spathe up to 23 cm (9 in) long. This plant produces trailing stems when it climbs up trees and these take root when they reach the ground and grow along it. The leaves on these trailing stems grow up to 10 cm (4 in) long and are the ones normally seen on this plant when it is cultivated as a potted plant. While E. aureum is classified as an angiosperm, which typically produce flowers at some point in their life cycle, it is the only reported species in its family (Araceae) that does not develop a flower. Regardless of where this “shy-flowering” plant is grown or what the conditions are like, it will not flower due to a genetic impairment of the gibberellin (GA) biosynthetic gene, EaGA3ox1. This impairment causes the plant to be unable to develop bioactive GAs, which is what is responsible for the flowering of plants via the floral meristem identity gene EaLFY. In E. aureum, the floral meristem identity gene expression is absent due to the lack of GAs from EaGA3ox1. It was found that when GAs were experimentally sprayed onto the plant, flowering was induced. Originally, it was endemic to the island of Mo'orea from the Society Islands. However, it is now wild in many tropical countries. The following ranges are indicated: Bangladesh, India (Andaman Islands), Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, People's Republic of China (Hainan, Hong Kong), Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Islands, Ogasawara Islands, Bonin Islands), Malaysia (the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak), Singapore, Indonesia (Java, Maluku Islands, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Sumatra), Philippines, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Australia (Queensland), Marshall Islands, Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands and Western Samoa.