The tree-hugging Scindapsus pictus ‘Argyraeus’
Tree-hugger. Silvery on the edges. Loves Hawai’i, even though not native to that archipelago. I could be writing about myself, but all of these also apply to the ‘Argyraeus’ satin potho in today’s photograph.
Scindapsus pictus is native to parts of Malesia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Along with cultivation in tropical areas such as the aforementioned Hawai’i (where this photo was taken), it is widely grown as a houseplant in temperate climates due to interest in the patterned leaves. The cultivar ‘Argyraeus’ is particularly popular, thanks to its silvery leaf-margins (argentum meaning silver in Latin)–it has received the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
These evergreen climbers do best in partial shade or partial sun (glass half-full or half-empty?). If a supporting trunk or other structure isn’t available, plants tend to grow in a loose tumbling manner. I remember marveling at this particular plant, with its leaves barely touching and therefore seemingly growing with optimal spacing to capture sunlight for photosynthesis.
For those interested in etymology, there seems to be some disagreement on the origin and meaning of Scindapsus. Apparently, it is derived from the Greek skindapsos, which (in one of the links above) is said to mean “upon tree trunks”. Other references suggest it simply means an ivy-like plant. Curious is another purported origin as a nonsense word, with meaning later attached to it as “something or other”.
In Greek argyreos (ἀργυρεος) means silvery, argyreios (ἀργυρειος) means silver-bearing like a silver-mine. This variegation could certainly recall the streaks found in a rich lode of silvery ore.
Argyraeus is a modern latinisation of a Greek word. Argentum is the Latin word for silver and Latin does have some loan words from the Greek, such as hydrargyrum (mercury, literally watersilver). However, old Latin did not have any word like argyraeus. The closest was the name of a plant, argyros.
“Pictus” in Latin, of course, meant an inhabitant of Scotland. Or painted.
The Oxford English Dictionary states quite clearly that skindapsos (σκινδαψός) was ancient Greek for an ivy-like plant, as well as thingamabob and a musical instrument. The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott only has the four-stringed musical instrument and a ‘what d’ye call it’.
The scindapsus musical instrument was used for charming wild elephants in India, according to the Roman Claudius Aelianus.
https://archive.org/details/L449AelianCharacteristicsOfAnimalsIII1217/page/n37
Thanks for the additional info, Patrick!
One of my favorite house plants. I grow it in a hanging basket, not realizing it had the sort of habit. I may have to give it the opportunity to grow a bit differently, perhaps I can put a cutting in with my fishtail palm.
The HawaiinTropical Garden is a real treasure for the island of Hawaii, aka The Big Island. I was there in 2016 and had to put my camera down to rest my arms. Another wonderful garden to visit is the Waimea Valley Arboretum on the North Shore of Oahu. If you do let me know and I will host you for lunch
Love your description of yourself!!
Beautiful plant with wonderful stories about the origin and meaning behind its name.
Really enjoyed the comments and information. English is often aggravating to dyslexics in my family.. The etymologies and cultural tracing make it more humorous and bearable. Imagining the thingamabob/plant development of the word has provided much entertainment.
I can feel the warm humidity in this photo – it’s beautifully done, Daniel. I love the way the leaves are pressed so closely to the tree, and that very subtle overlap in the leaves that you mention – wow. The curving, jointed roots are also quite beautiful. And that subdued lighting….
I asked Daniel if his use of the common name “satin potho” in the first sentence might be a typo. He referred me to the two links in the article, one RHS and the other Missource Botanical Garden, both showing “satin potho” as the common name. I see that the Missouri BG page has the sentence “Scindapsus pictus, commonly known as satin pothos or silk pothos, is a slow-growing tropical evergreen climber…”. And later “Satin pothos leaves …”. It doesn’t even use the common name it suggests. So though both the references in this article use the common name “potho”, one doesn’t really use it.
And if “potho” were the common name, wouldn’t people have to pronounce the plural “pothos” something like pothoz?
Purchased one of these as a houseplant for my home here in southeastern Colorado last fall. Truly a lovely plant and I’ll forward this article to my son who introduced the gorgeous satin potho to me.
I love the way the leaves are arranged. Having seen plants with similar “flattened” alternate arrangement on trees in Peru I wonder if there is a term for that particular configuration.
The term “distichous” describes that leaf arrangement, with alternate leaves on opposite sides of the stem. I didn’t realize that it only applies to alternate leaves. You might be interested to hear the pronunciation here:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/distichous
Thank you Wendy!
I really love this shingling habit. I’ve been trying to convince my Scindapsus to climb on mounted coarse fabric for about a year now with no luck. I’m having better luck with its less-demanding cousin Epipremnum, but that doesn’t have the shingling effect I was really hoping for. I’m sure it needs more humidity than I can provide with misting in order to take.
Is there any evidence that this plant provides a habitat for ants (colonizing the spaces beneath the leaves) – similar to Hoya imbricata?