need help understanding the varieties of E. aureum

I think I understand these varieties;
Epipremnum aureum 'Neon' - light lime green
Epipremnum aureum 'Jade Satin' - solid jade (the common green in most varieties) green
Epipremnum aureum - green with yellow variegation
Epipremnum aureum 'Golden Queen' - yellow with green variegation
Epipremnum aureum 'Marble Queen' - white with green variegation
Epipremnum aureum 'Cebu Blue' - blue-green lance shaped leaf. Some authors consider this a form of E. pinnatum and not E. aureum. Others seem to consider E. aureum a form of E. pinnatum (E. pinnatum aureum). At this time the Plant List, http://www.theplantlist.org/ considers the two species separate with *** confidence
Epipremnum aureum 'Skeleton Key' - a mutated leaf with a key like shape

Here is where I really start to have trouble understanding the varieties;
Epipremnum aureum 'Glacier' - leaves with solid green centers and white edges?
Epipremnum aureum 'N' Joy' and Epipremnum aureum 'Pearls and Jade' - I have seen pictures of both solid green and yellow or white variegation and pictures of green and yellow or white with green speckles and streaks through out the lighter colour, tagged with being all of these three varieties. Not sure what is the difference or if there is a difference between them?

Epipremnum aureum 'Silver Splash' - looks to me a lot like Scindapsus pictus 'Argyraeus'. Is there a veriety of sliver splash on green E. aureum or are these misidentified Scindapsus pictus?

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 11:06 AM

Scindapsus aureus is a synonym of Epipremnum aureum. There's no Scindapsus synonym of Epipremnum pinnatum though. But I wouldn't buy into discussing definitions of varieties of Epipremnum aureum. A lot of these aroids are very variable. Being a pretty much a cynic I just see many of these varietal labels as marketing ploys.

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=502333

The accepted authority on plant species names is Kew Gardens which maintains the daily updated World Checklist. The other online database is The Plant List, although it's not updated daily and can be a bit behind with changes. I looked at your site and it's completely at odds with the accepted data. It appears they've mixed up E. pinnatum and E. aureum and got it all wrong.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 7:04 AM

You're quite wrong there too. It's a world wide convention entered into by herbaria around the world because of the need for conformity. The US is part of it too. The main aurthority there the Missouri Botanic Gardens is a major player along with a number of other US botanic gardens. They together with institutions around the world feed the latest data into the World Checklist and The Plant List. There always have been other lists but they don't have the resources to gather all the information needed hence they become unreliable, as your example shows. There's already too much confusion around so it's good that the authorities around the world got together on this.

Actually I stated that the pictures of Epipremnum aureum 'Silver Splash' I have seen look to me like Scindapsus pictus which is a legit species, I never mentioned Scindapsus aureus a known syn. for E. aureum.

Also my main interest is if the is a difference between varieties 'Glacier', 'N' Joy' and 'Pearls and Jade'.

Sorry to get off topic, gahardy. I hope you found the info you're looking for?

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 7:04 AM

This may be more than you're actually looking for, but it sets out what is accepted as what Scindapsus and Epipremnum respectively are.

Summary of Scindapsus

HABIT : evergreen climbing herbs, sometimes very robust, sometimes producing flagelliform shoots, shoots with leaves evenly spaced or forming rosulate flowering zones separated by zones with elongated internodes and smaller leaves.

LEAVES : many, juvenile plants often of shingle form.

PETIOLE : geniculate apically, sheath usually broad, rarely decomposing to form persistent net-fibrous mass with abundant, stinging sclereids.

BLADE : always entire, lanceolate, elliptic or ovate to obovate, acuminate, rarely variegated; primary lateral veins hardly differentiated, pinnate, running into marginal vein, secondaries and also sometimes tertiaries parallel-pinnate, higher order venation inconspicuous, transverse-reticulate.

INFLORESCENCE : always solitary.

PEDUNCLE : shorter than petiole.

SPATHE : boat-shaped, gaping only slightly, caducous to deciduous.

SPADIX : sessile to shortly stipitate, cylindric, narrowly ellipsoid or clavate, a little shorter than spathe.

FLOWERS : bisexual, perigone absent.

STAMENS : 4, filaments oblong, flattened, broadish, connective slender, thecae oblong-ellipsoid, dehiscing by apical slit.

POLLEN : fully zonate, hamburger-shaped, medium-sized (mean 38 µm., range 33-45 µm.), exine shallowly and sparsely punctate, scabrate or nearly psilate.

GYNOECIUM : ovary sometimes short, compressed ± cylindric, 1-locular, ovules 1(-2), anatropous, funicle short, placenta basal, stylar region well-developed, prismatic, truncate or with shortly conic central projection supporting stigma, stigma globose, elongate-globose, elliptic, linear, or punctiform.

BERRY : stylar region deciduous when mature, red.

SEED : rounded, subreniform, compressed, testa thickish, sparsely verruculose or smooth, embryo curved, endosperm present (Seubert 1993).

Source The Genera of Araceae http://araceae.e-monocot.org/node/45


Summary of Epipremnum

HABIT : evergreen climbing herbs, producing flagellae.

LEAVES : several to many, distichous.

PETIOLE : geniculate apically, sheath long, marcescent to deciduous, often decomposing to conspicuous net-fibrous mass.

BLADE : entire, often oblique, lanceolate, elliptic, elliptic- oblong, or pinnatipartite to pinnatisect, rarely minutely perforate (E. pinnatum); primary lateral veins pinnate, running into marginal vein, secondary and often tertiaries parallel-pinnate, tertiary and higher order venation often reticulate.

INFLORESCENCE : 1(-2) in each floral sympodium.

PEDUNCLE : relatively short.

SPATHE : boat-shaped, withering after anthesis, usually deciduous.

SPADIX : subcylindric, conic, often quite thick, sessile or stipitate, shorter than spathe.

FLOWERS : bisexual, or lowermost ones female, perigone absent.

STAMENS : 4, filaments linear, somewhat broad, anthers much shorter than filaments, connective slender, thecae oblong-ellipsoid, dehiscing by longitudinal slit.

POLLEN : fully zonate, hamburger-shaped, medium-sized (mean 40 µm., range 36-44 µm.), exine foveolate-fossulate, psilate at periphery, apertural exine coarsely verrucate.

GYNOECIUM : ovary subtetragonal-prismatic, truncate, 1-locular, ovules usually 2, more rarely 4 or 6-8 (E. amplissimum), anatropous, funicle short, placenta parietal or near base of parietal partial septa, stylar region prismatic, as broad or broader than ovary, stigma umbonate to oblong-linear in axial plane of spadix.

BERRY : 1-8-seeded, throwing off apical tissue.

SEED : reniform, testa thickish, brittle, smooth, embryo curved, endosperm copious.

Source The Genera of Araceae http://araceae.e-monocot.org/node/45