Species
+

Scindapsus pictus Hassk.

satin pothos, silver pothos

Climate known 45 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Scindapsus pictus, commonly called satin pothos, silver pothos, or silver vine, is a species of flowering plant in the aroid or arum family, Araceae, native to Bangladesh, Borneo, India, Java, Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Taiwan and Thailand. The Latin specific epithet pictus means "painted", referring to the variegation on the leaves.

Text from Wikipedia, “Scindapsus pictus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Scindapsus

Scindapsus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Queensland, and a few western Pacific islands. The species Scindapsus pictus is common in cultivation.

Text from Wikipedia, “Scindapsus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Araceae
Described by
Hassk.
Native to
Bangladesh, Thailand, Borneo +5
Wild records
270 in range· 80 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Apr, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
3097mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 325 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Scindapsus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January, April to May and July at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 3097 mm a year, wettest December at 325 mm, driest February at 193 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 21.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Pothos argenteus W.Bull; Pothos argyraeus Engl.; Pothos argyraeus J.J.Veitch; Pothos endresii H.J.Veitch; Scindapsus argyraeus (J.J.Veitch) Engl. and 3 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Scindapsus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January, April to May and July at the habitat (not shifted)).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (2233 mm of 3097 mm) takes 8 months, September to January, April to May and July. Mean temperature moves 1.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 3097 mm a year, wettest December at 325 mm, driest February at 193 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

3097 mm a year at the habitat, 2233 mm of it September to January, April to May and July. Wettest month December at 325 mm, driest February at 193 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2387 mm to 4292 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 21.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 21.5 °C, the absolute minimum 19.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 16.1 °C to 24.2 °C), warmest day 28.9 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 67 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Apr; mean night from 22 °C in Jan to 23 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 3097 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 145 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 19.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°32.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)19.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–35RH 67–70 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 145 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–2928 / 24–3028 / 24–3029 / 25–3129 / 25–3129 / 24–3128 / 24–3029 / 24–3128 / 24–3028 / 24–3028 / 24–2927 / 23–29
Night °C22 / 16–2422 / 16–2422 / 17–2523 / 17–2523 / 17–2623 / 17–2623 / 17–2523 / 17–2523 / 17–2522 / 17–2522 / 17–2522 / 16–24
Rain mm275 / 94–500193 / 77–382211 / 97–379235 / 126–385258 / 167–345230 / 156–313238 / 158–338230 / 145–315269 / 166–368309 / 198–405324 / 201–457325 / 157–525
DLI29 / 25–3332 / 28–3735 / 30–3835 / 30–4033 / 29–3732 / 28–3532 / 29–3534 / 29–3734 / 29–3732 / 27–3429 / 25–3127 / 24–31
RH %69 / 64–7469 / 63–7368 / 63–7268 / 64–7269 / 65–7268 / 64–7267 / 64–7367 / 63–7268 / 64–7369 / 65–7370 / 66–7470 / 66–74

Each figure is the median across the 145 grid cells holding the 240 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1710:5898 (4.475, 114.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 19.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 145 distinct grid cells holding the 240 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1710:5898 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 4.50_115.000, lapse-corrected -137 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 103 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBangladesh, Thailand, Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera
Kew's description“climber” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker5.833, 117.75 · in the densest population, 90 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 270 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 80 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 99 km away. 10 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 30 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 270 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Scindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictusScindapsus pictus

Photographs: (c) scallions, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) poyin, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Forest Botial-Jarvis, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Scindapsus pictus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phytoremediation of Metals in Industrial Sludge by Cyperus Kyllingia-Rasiga, Asystassia Intrusa and Scindapsus Pictus Var Argyaeus Plant Species
Ab Aziz Abdul Latiff, Ahmad Tarmizi Abdul Karim, Ahmad Shukri Ahmad, Mohd Baharudin Ridzuan (2012) · International Journal of Integrated Engineering
Chilling Injury in Scindapsus pictus, Aphelandra squarrosa and Maranta leuconeura1
Edward L. McWilliams, Curtis W. Smith (1978) · HortScience
Native Ornamental Potted Plants for Sustainable Improvement of Indoor Air Quality
Hamdan Mohd Noor, Hanim Ahmad (2020) · International Journal of Applied Agricultural Sciences
Isolasi dan Identifikasi Senyawa Metabolit Sekunder Fraksi Metanol Batang Belajang Susu (Scindapsus pictus Hassk.)
Nurul Amaliah, Pince Salempa, Muharram Muharram (2020) · Chemica Jurnal Ilmiah Kimia dan Pendidikan Kimia
Morphology study, leaf anatomy and growth of the Indonesian Scindapsus
S.A. Ardiningtyas, Deden Derajat Matra, Roedhy Poerwanto, Krisantini Krisantini (2023) · Journal of Applied Horticulture
First Report of Dickeya dadantii Causing Bacterial Soft Rot of Scindapsus pictus in Taiwan
Ching‐Yi Chang, Wen-Chien Tang, Chia‐Ching Chu (2023) · Plant Disease
IDENTIVIKASI TUMBUHAN FAMILI ARACEAE DI CAGAR ALAM TANGALE KABUPATEN GORONTALO
Binti Khoirul Khoirul (2013) · KIM Fakultas Matematika dan IPA
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.