This beautiful whining plant is a member of the Araceae family, native to the Solomon Islands. Who knows when and who brought it around the globe and made it a popular house plant.
Maybe its popularity grew simply because it is easy to grow, some call it indestructible others the devil's ivy. The list of names is long and not really that important if you ask me. What matters is that it cleans the air and supplies oxygen into the closed space. To be more specific it cleans formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, benzene, carbon monoxide from air and absorbs carbon dioxide.
Where would all that pollutants come into my bedroom you ask? I know, you are aware that crisp fresh air is a thing of the past and that cars are everywhere. Car exhaust is filled with Formaldehyde, so it might make sense to have something in your home to "eat it".
Caring for the Pothos plant couldn't be easier. Simply put it needs a little bit of light and water. Pothos is most vibrant in bright indirect sunlight but grows in the dark corners as well. In the case of low lighting conditions, it’ll become less variegated. After all, it is a tropical plant that grows underneath the trees and all over the trees. Its vigorous growth can be marked as invasive if you plant it outside it the tropical climate and forget about it. Indoors you should water it every other week or when the soil is dry on touch. When it becomes too dry, its leaves begin to wilt, so it’s obvious when water is needed. Make sure it doesn't stay in water - that will make Pothos 🍃 fall off. To keep the foliage full, periodically prune the long, trailing stems.
I just got mine and I will leave it as it is for now. When I'll have a Pothos baby I'll start experiments 😁. It is said that Pothos is easy to propagate so fingers crossed that my green thumb is real. However, with all the talk about its easy care, I am not worried. Actually, I am already looking for more plants with different foliage.
One very important thing to note is that you should keep this plant out of the reach of cats, dogs, and children because of the presence of raphides (calcium oxalate) which can cause some nasty toxic reactions if swallowed. Raphides are some sort of tiny, microscopic needle-shaped crystals that act as a defense mechanism, something like pricks on a cactus. If you have sensitive skin you can wear garden gloves when pruning the leaves. I didn't and all was fine, haven't noticed any irritations.
Besides cleaner air, you'll enjoy also more positive energy if you decide to have a Pothos plant. Feng Shui experts consider Pothos as an energy force that cleanses the negative energy. Who doesn't need more positive energy, it is like oxygen and we need both. In our tech world, we should keep the pothos near WiFi, television, router, or computer. The potential benefits are reduced stress and improved sleep quality.
Vastu principles believe that this plant brings good luck and positive energy to households. Although planting it in the garden is not recommended by Vastu followers. Maybe because it can take over it? Who cares about that, we spent most of our days indoors anyways.