Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum): Classification, and Characteristics
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Epipremnum
Species: E. aureum
Scientific Name: Epipremnum aureum
Common Names: Devil’s Ivy, Giant Golden Pothos, Money Plant.
Introduction
Epipremnum aureum, also known as the money plant in Asian nations, is a member of the Araceae family and is one of the most simple houseplants to care for. It grows best in bright indirect light or an area protected from the afternoon sun, and stem cuttings can be easily propagated (Sonawane et al. 2011). The money plant is a herbaceous plant classified as a C4 plant because it contains a mechanism for turning carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen (O2) during photosynthesis (Sharma 2013). Because photorespiration releases CO2 at a lower rate than other C3 plants, it uses oxygen solely during cellular respiration for light respiration. As a result, with the net increase in oxygen concentration in the atmosphere, the net production of O2 by photosynthesis exceeds the net consumption of O2 during respiration (Sharma 2013).
Epipremnum aureum, often known as golden pothos, is a kind of epipremnum. It is one of the most widely used tropical ornamental plants in hanging baskets. Epipremnum aureum is a potent air purifier. Unlike other plants that produce carbon dioxide at night, it continues to produce oxygen.
Distribution
This plant is native to New Guinea and Southeast Asia.
Characteristics
1. Money plant, Epipremnum aureum, is a herb that belongs to the Araceae family. The common name for Epipremnum aureum is “Money Plant.”
2. It is a huge root climber that belongs to the Araceae botanical family and is a common house plant with numerous cultivars that can remove indoor air pollutants like xylene, formaldehyde, and benzene. It’s a lovely variegated climbing evergreen shrub with aerial roots and pretty variegated foliage.
3. Epipremnum aureum has gleaming heart-shaped leaves and long, slender stems that can reach a length of 3 meters. To keep the plant from taking up too much room, the stems can be wrapped around sticks or tied to supports.
4. The plant grows to a height of 5 to 9 meters and has a total spread of 1.5 to 2.5 meters. In the summer, Epipremnum aureum produces little green flowers.
5. The money plant is a fascinating plant to study. It has five long, gleaming leaves per branch, but it is the luckiest.
6. Each branch of the plant bears six or seven leaves. It’s used for a variety of topics, including social issues, science, and so on.
7. Fengshui practitioners employ the money plant. It contains five leaves, each of which is thought to represent one of fengshui’s five primary elements: metals, wood, water, fire, and earth. In fengshui, the presence of a money plant is thought to balance out any of the five components that are weak or missing in the room.
8. The money plant is a herbaceous plant that is commonly referred to as a C4 plant because it contains a mechanism for converting carbon dioxide to organic compounds while releasing oxygen during photosynthesis. Photorespiration consumes the least amount of oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide as other C3 plants do.
9. Photorespiration just needs oxygen during cellular respiration. As a result, with the net increase in oxygen content in the atmosphere, the net production of oxygen by photosynthesis exceeds the net consumption of oxygen during respiration.
10. Money plants can be utilized as air purifiers in the home. It filters air and, through its photosynthetic function, it may convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. It can convert oxygen to carbon dioxide far faster than it can convert oxygen to carbon dioxide through respiration, therefore it keeps the space adequately oxygenated.
11. It’s best to keep it near the window at the room’s northwest corner. A money plant is thought to offer you good luck, fortune, wealth, and prosperity by causing fantastic things to happen.
Medicinal uses
1. This plant is well-known in Malaysia and Singapore, where it is used as traditional anticancer medicine and treatment for skin ailments.
2. Locals were said to make a decoction of the fresh leaves with meat or eggs, or drink it as tea.
3. Epipremnum aureum’s aerial roots and leaves have a lot of antibacterial power.
4. Many active phytoconstituents, such as flavonoids, have anti-diabetic and neuroprotective properties.
5. Anaesthetics are made from alkaloids. Terpenoids have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-hyperlipedic, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties.
6. The accurate identification of phytoconstituents is critical for determining medicinal efficacy.
7. They play key roles in aging and the pathogenesis of age-related diseases such as cancer, hypertension, atherogenesis, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
8. Antimicrobial agents are compounds that kill or inhibit bacteria and fungus from growing (Choudhury and Choudhury, 2011). Antibiotics, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory medications produced from plants are all useful (Mathur et al., 2011).