Epipremnum pinnatum (L.) Engl.

Pflanzenr. IV (Heft 37. 23B): 60. 1908.  

 Synonyms: Pothos pinnatus L., Sp. Pl. (ed. 2) 1324. 1763.

             Indigenous to Samoa, native eastward to tropical Asia.  It is common in Samoa on all the main islands in coastal to lowland forest, reported from near sea level to 700 m elevation.  The climber is very similar to another climbing aroid, Rhaphidophora graeffei, which differs in having entire rather than deeply lobed leaves.  No uses are reported for the plant in Samoa, but in Tonga the tough, fibrous roots are woven into baskets, which may also occur in Samoa (if it is not the other climbing aroid species that is used).  Samoan Name: fue laofao, tuafaga?  English Name: pothos

       Liana, somewhat woody, with stems bearing aerial roots that adhere to tree trunks.  Leaves simple, alternate; blade mostly ovate, 15–50 cm more long (when mature and split), subcordate at the base, acuminate at the tip; surfaces glabrous; margins entire in juvenile leaves, pinnatifid in adult leaves; petiole glabrous, up to 32 cm long.  Inflorescence an erect, sessile, cream-colored spadix mostly 10–20 cm long, borne 1–4 in the axils, each surrounded by a cream-colored spathe of similar length that soon withers.  Calyx absent.  Corolla absent.  Stamens 4.  Ovary superior, 1-celled.  Fruit a short cylindrical, 1- or 2-seeded berry ca. 3–5 mm densely packed on the spadix, pale green with an orange flesh.  Flowering and fruiting occur throughout the year.

       Distinguishable by its epiphytic tree climber habit; large, spirally arranged, mostly ovate leaves with split margins when mature; and a cylindrical spadix surrounded by a spadix of similar length.