Pothos (Epipremnum aureum): Toxic to Cats and Dogs?

ASPCA Animal Poison Control lists Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) as toxic to cats and dogs. The toxic principle is Insoluble calcium oxalates. Signs reported: Oral irritation, pain and swelling of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting (not horses), difficulty swallowing.

If a pet may have eaten a plant, contact a veterinarian, ASPCA Animal Poison Control (888) 426-4435 or Pet Poison Helpline (855) 764-7661. Note what was eaten, how much and when, and bring a photo or a piece of the plant. Do not induce vomiting or give home remedies unless a professional tells you to.

• Aloe Vera
• Azalea
• Chrysanthemum
• Cyclamen

Toxicity lists are by species, and many houseplants look alike. Photograph the whole plant, a leaf close-up and any flower in even light; the app reads the species first, then you can check it here. If the species is uncertain, act as if it were toxic.

Yes. Pothos is the everyday name for Epipremnum aureum, a climbing vine in the arum family (Araceae). The name is a leftover from its history: Wikipedia records that it was first described as Pothos aureus in 1880, moved to Rhaphidophora aurea in 1962 after flowering material was examined, and later settled in Epipremnum. NC State Extension also lists Scindapsus aureus as a former name, which is why older books and some shop labels still use it.

The species is native to Mo'orea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia, according to Wikipedia, and NC State gives its native range as the Society Islands. It is now naturalised across the tropics; Wikipedia notes it overgrows forest sanctuaries in Sri Lanka.

Wikipedia gives the reason plainly: the plant is very hardy and stays green even when kept in the dark. NC State lists a string of other common names - devil's vine, golden pothos, ivy arum, taro vine and marble queen - and Wikipedia adds money plant, the usual name in the Indian subcontinent, and Ceylon creeper.

The money plant name is worth knowing if you have pets, because the ASPCA uses money tree for Pachira aquatica, a plant it lists as non-toxic, while pothos is listed as toxic to cats and dogs. Check the scientific name, not the label. Our list of house plants the ASPCA rates non-toxic to cats covers the other name traps.

Pothos is regularly sold as, or mistaken for, heartleaf philodendron. University of Illinois Extension (Nicole Flowers-Kimmerle, December 2020) gives the tests:

• Petiole. Pothos leaf stalks are grooved; philodendron leaf stalks are not.
• Aerial roots. Pothos has one small root at each node; philodendron often has several.
• New leaves. A new pothos leaf unfurls from the previous leaf. A new philodendron leaf emerges inside a thin sheath called a cataphyll, which turns brown and falls off.
• Texture. Pothos leaves are waxy and slightly bumpy, often marked gold, white or yellow; heartleaf philodendron leaves are smooth, heart-shaped and dark green.

Pothos is not an ivy either. English ivy is Hedera helix, in the ginseng family (Araliaceae), native to Europe east to Russia, with three- to five-lobed juvenile leaves, per NC State. It is listed as invasive in North Carolina. All three plants are toxic to pets; see our entries for philodendron and English ivy.

Pothos prefers bright indirect light but is unusually shade tolerant. NC State says it survives for long periods in low light and tolerates deep shade (under two hours of direct sun a day) as well as partial shade (two to six hours). The cost of shade is colour: NC State lists loss of variegation in low light.

Whether it climbs or hangs changes the plant you get. NC State describes juvenile leaves about 3 to 4 inches long, vines up to 40 feet, and brown aerial roots that act as holdfasts on a support. Wikipedia records that in the wild it climbs to about 20 metres and that mature leaves can reach 100 cm long and 45 cm wide. Clemson Extension notes that a plant given a moss pole or wooden rod to climb produces larger leaves; a hanging plant keeps its smaller ones. Our pothos care guide covers watering and propagation.

For light and care, yes: it tolerates low light and needs little attention. For a home with pets or small children, it depends on where it can go. NC State rates pothos a medium-severity poison, lists every part of the plant as poisonous, and records oral irritation, pain and swelling of the mouth, tongue and lips, drooling, vomiting and difficulty swallowing, plus skin irritation from the sap. Hang it out of reach, or choose a plant from the ASPCA non-toxic list.

One oddity: pothos almost never flowers. Wikipedia attributes this to a faulty gene, EaGA3ox1, that stops the plant making the gibberellin hormones needed for flowering, and records one of the last spontaneous flowerings in cultivation in 1964. A pothos that has never bloomed is normal.

The sections on pothos names, look-alikes and growth habit were added on 2026-09-25. Research and drafting were done with the help of AI, and every figure was checked line by line against the sources listed on this page.