Pothos plants, recognized by their heart-shaped leaves and trailing vines, are a common and resilient presence in homes and offices globally. This plant, often called Devil’s Ivy due to its hardiness, is valued for its attractive foliage and ability to thrive indoors. Despite its widespread popularity and classification as an angiosperm, a group of plants that typically produce flowers, the pothos plant rarely blooms, especially when kept indoors. Its rare blooming has long intrigued plant enthusiasts and scientists.
The Elusive Pothos Bloom: What Most People See
Most individuals who cultivate pothos plants indoors will likely never witness them produce a flower. Typical home environments do not support the plant’s reproductive stage, which requires specific environmental triggers. Indoor pothos vines remain in a juvenile state, characterized by smaller leaves and a focus on vegetative growth rather than developing flowers and seeds.
In its native tropical habitats, such as French Polynesia, mature pothos plants (Epipremnum aureum) can develop flowers. Even in these wild settings, flowering is not common. When a mature plant does bloom, the flowers appear as a spathe, a creamy, boat-shaped bract, surrounding a spadix, which is a spike containing small, inconspicuous flowers. For home growers, observing this remains rare, as it requires the plant to reach a significant size, sometimes 35 to 40 feet, impractical indoors.
Unraveling the Mystery: Why Pothos Rarely Flowers
The primary reason pothos plants rarely flower stems from a specific genetic impairment. Scientists discovered that Epipremnum aureum has a genetic defect in its gibberellin (GA) biosynthetic gene, specifically EaGA3ox1. Gibberellins are important plant hormones that play a significant role in various growth processes, including stem elongation, germination, and, especially, the initiation of flowering.
This genetic deficiency means the pothos plant cannot naturally produce sufficient levels of bioactive gibberellins. Without these essential hormones, the plant does not receive the necessary signals to transition from vegetative growth to its reproductive, flowering stage. This explains why pothos, even in its natural habitat, rarely flowers. The understanding of this genetic impairment, particularly the role of the EaGA3ox1 gene, was a key discovery, explaining a long-standing botanical enigma.
Addressing the “1962” Query
The year 1962 is sometimes mentioned in discussions surrounding pothos flowering, but it does not mark a significant scientific discovery or a widespread flowering event for the plant. While an inflorescence of Epipremnum aureum was observed in 1962, leading to a temporary reclassification, this did not advance understanding of its flowering mechanism.
The scientific breakthrough identifying the genetic impairment occurred much later. The understanding of the gibberellin deficiency as the core reason for the rarity of pothos flowering was established in a 2016 study, with further research confirming these findings.
Scientific Breakthroughs in Inducing Pothos Flowers
Despite the natural rarity of pothos flowering, scientific methods have successfully induced blooms in laboratory settings. Researchers have achieved this by applying gibberellin externally to the plants. This involves treating the plant with gibberellic acid (GA3), a form of the hormone, which bypasses the plant’s natural deficiency.
This controlled induction of flowering provides valuable insights into the plant’s physiology and the role of gibberellins in its reproductive cycle. While this demonstrates that pothos possesses the inherent capacity to flower, it is not a practical or recommended method for home growers. The concentrations and application techniques required are typically reserved for scientific research or commercial breeding purposes. Chemically inducing flowering in a laboratory underscores the plant’s genetic limitation, explaining why a pothos bloom remains an exceptional sight in a home environment.