Olivia Young is a writer, fact checker, and green living expert passionate about tiny living, climate advocacy, and all things nature. She holds a degree in Journalism from Ohio University.

Look up the most low-maintenance houseplants—the most air-purifying, most resilient—and you will no doubt find the pothos (aka "devil's ivy") near the top of every list. This vine's easygoing nature and tropical aesthetic are why it consumes entire aisles of plant nurseries and why horticulturalists have cultivated more than a dozen varieties of the beloved Epipremnum aureum.

Indoor gardeners of all levels can place their pothos in bright, indirect light, and they will most certainly thrive. Forget to water it for a week? No problem: These evergreen climbers from French Polynesia are exceedingly drought resistant. When it becomes unmanageably long, simply snip a section of the stem and propagate it. Share the wonder of fuss-free foliage with your friends.

Here are 20 types of pothos—common, rare, solid-color, and variegated—to fuel your houseplant obsession.

This pothos is the most common one you'll see spilling out of any houseplant aisle. It's best known for its namesake yellowish-gold variegation and characteristically glossy, heart-shaped, philodendron-like leaves. The golden pothos is widely thought of as the original or most traditional pothos variety, hence why it has no unique distinction on its botanical name.

Nora Carol Photography / Getty Images

Much harder to come by than the ubiquitous golden pothos is the Manjula pothos, a variety known for being one of the most variegated, displaying dramatic yellow and cream streaks and swirls on its large and glossy green leaves. The plant hails from India and was patented (Hansoti14) by Dr. Ashish Hansoti. Aptly, Manjula is a name given to girls in India that means "lovely."

One thing to note about these vines is that the more variegation they have, the more light they appreciate. Consider the Manjula a sun worshipper compared to other pothos varieties.

The silver satin pothos is unique in its coloring. While most other varieties exhibit bright green, yellow, and cream, this outlier has blue-green leaves with grey and silver spots. Its leaves are also not as glossy.

Though it's widely accepted as a pothos variety, the silver vine actually does not share the Epipremnum aureum botanical name with most other devil's ivy. It bears a striking resemblance to its closest relative, the satin pothos (Scindapsus pictus ‘Argyraeus'), except that its leaves are larger and more variegated.

If you like both the lemon-lime pigment of the neon pothos and the decorated leaves of the golden pothos, this variegated neon variety combines the best of both worlds. Much less common than the plain neon variant, its yellow-speckled sibling needs a little more light because of its variegation. Besides that, give it the care you'd give any other pothos.

Another highly variegated pothos, the marble queen is usually about equal parts green, yellow, and cream. It can be confused with the snow queen cultivar, which is less common, whiter, and higher maintenance with pointier leaves.

Compared to the Manjula, the marble queen is less splotchy in its coloring (imagine the pattern of actual marble) and has wavier, almost frilly leaves. It's much more common than the Manjula, too.

The Jessenia pothos' paint-splatter variegation is similar to the marble queen's except its markings are a light limey-green instead of yellow or cream. Unlike the golden pothos, Jessenia's pattern is evenly mottled with no large area of solid color.

This is one of the most recent pothos cultivars, discovered by Costa Farms in 2014, and remains rare still today.

A mutation of the marble queen cultivated by the University of Florida, the pearls and jade (aka P&J) pothos is especially distinctive: It has smaller, more irregularly shaped leaves than other pothos—maxing out at about three inches long and two inches wide—and markings so light they're commonly classed as gray. P&J's variegation appears as random blotches and streaks, sometimes with a smattering of speckles but not mottled like its ancestor, the marble queen.

A real outlier of the pothos family and must-have for devil's ivy collectors, the Baltic blue pothos is known for its large, pointy, and perforated leaves, turning from deep green to bluish green as the plant ages. The split edges (called fenestrations) are reminiscent of the monstera "Swiss cheese" plant. The leaves are solid in color—no marbling or streaking here—and appear bluer in the fall and winter. Baltic blues are a rare houseplant find, so if you come across one, you'd better snag it.

Named after the Filipino island of Cebu, where it comes from, the Cebu blue pothos has shimmery silver-blue leaves that seem to sparkle in certain lighting. This plant is similar to the Baltic blue in color and leaf shape (take note of the long and slender foliage), but, unlike the Baltic blue, it doesn't develop those telltale fenestrations until after it matures.

The Jade pothos has small, solid forest green leaves that look similar to those of the golden pothos but with no variegation and a wider, more rounded base. It is one of the most widely sold devil's ivy varieties, sometimes chosen over the golden pothos because of its higher tolerance for low-light conditions.

Peep the ornamental bands of chartreuse and gold on the Hawaiian pothos, giving its leaves a unique zebra-striped variegation. The streaky pattern is made even more dramatic by the fact that its leaves grow larger (and faster) than other varieties. The Hawaiian pothos is also harder to come by than most.

Not to be confused with the silver satin pothos, this trailing vine is deeper in color than its Exotica cousin and contains far less silver. The velvety leaves are lightly speckled with a subtle gray color, and they're often smaller than the silver satin pothos'. Argyraeus is the most common cultivar of the pothos-adjacent Scindapsus pictus species.

A cultivar of the marble queen, the NJoy has dramatic white, yellow, and green variegation on its leaf edges. Like the Manjula, it was patented by Dr. Ashish Hansoti. In fact, it is often confused with the Manjula because of its coloring and bushy growth habit but can be told apart by the solid color blocks, as opposed to streaks and swirls.

Arguably the most memorable and distinctive—not to mention rarest—cultivars of devil's ivy is the aptly named harlequin variety, called so because of its two-toned foliage. The leaves feature large patches of white, giving the plant an elegant and striking aesthetic. The harlequin pothos is sometimes confused with the Manjula pothos, although the former is more heavily variegated.

The patent for this new hybrid was granted to Japanese breeder Hiroaki Asaoka just in 2021. Costa Farms has since obtained exclusive propagation rights to it across North America and describes it as featuring "delightful green-on-green variegation" with occasional patches of cream or white and the mid-green leaves having darker green edges. Contrary to the flat leaves of similar varieties, the global green cultivar has leaves that can look slightly crumpled.

Dragon's tail is not just a cultivar of the Epipremnum aureum species; it is, in fact, a Epipremnum pinnatum species in the same Araceae family. Its variegated or non-variegated leaves grow especially large and split at the edges with maturity. Because of these fenestrations, mature dragon's tail pothos can look very similar to creeping philodendrons.

The bright-white streaky accents that adorn this vine's leaves align well with its epithet, "glacier." A rare treat for pothos collectors, it could easily be confused with the NJoy; however, trained eyes will notice smaller and more rounded leaves on the glacier. Another minor difference: the NJoy's leaves are matte underneath whereas the glacier's leaves are glossy allover.

No, the leaves of this pothos are not electrifyingly bright because it's missed a watering (often the case for leaf yellowing). The Solomon Islands native is naturally neon, standing out for that compelling color and its reputation for being exceedingly hardy, so choose this variety if you're a forgetful gardener. The neon pothos is tolerant of drought and partial-light conditions. In fact, too much light can cause the plant to become leggy.

The snow queen variety is similar to marble queen not just because they're both named royally but also because of their creamy white variegation. As you might expect from the name, snow queen leaves tend to be whiter than marble queen leaves and spottier as opposed to marbled. Ultimately, the two are hard to tell apart.

A member of the Scindapsus genus with satin and silver satin pothos, the Trebi (also spelled "Treubii") variety has glossier leaves than its satiny counterparts but maintains that silvery sheen Scindapsus is known for. There are a few types of Trebi pothos, but the most common is called "moonlight" or "sterling silver." Unlike a lot of Epipremnum aureums, which can expand quite voraciously, Scindapsus plants are comparatively slow-growing.

Henny, R., J. Chen, and T. Mellich. 2009. "‘Pearls and Jade’ Pothos". HortScience, 44(3), pp.824-825.

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