I was gifted this cutting from FL. Was told it was a type of syngonium. Is this Goosefoot syngonium? The leaf and stem are large. Any info for me?

It looks like the mature leaves of Syngonium podophyllum. Looks waaaaaay different than the juvenile ones.

Agree.

Thanks. OK, how mature? I have syngonium that are 5-10 years old and none have ever presented leaves in this shape.

We're pretty tropical here in coastal central Florida and plant will grow from seedling to mature and flowering in5-6 years.

An intermediate leaf.

A fully mature leaf and a seedling.

Seedlings pop up anywhere.

Yep. And did we mention how INVASIVE Syngonium can be here?

thanks for the picture explanation. We're Tropical Houston 9A/B. But all my syngonium look like your seedlings...FOREVER! I remember visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. Plants were so big, with leaves of different shapes they were unrecognizable. maybe this is what's happening here, I mean in FL?

@Gina1960. I forgot to mention the invasiveness. I got hooked by their lovely immature forms and colors. I had some that were variegated, pink, mixed colors, and shapes from arrowhead to caladium-like. Years later they all reverted to plain green and they're practically impossible to stop.

ShadyGreenThumb said:thanks for the picture explanation. We're Tropical Houston 9A/B. But all my syngonium look like your seedlings...FOREVER! I remember visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. Plants were so big, with leaves of different shapes they were unrecognizable. maybe this is what's happening here, I mean in FL?

The usually will not mature from the juvenile leaf form until they climb. If allowed to trail or creep they usually stay in the juvenile form

Cheryl, try giving your plant a trellis. When I do that, Syngonium goes feral. The leaves get smaller and it's not as attractive, as far as my personal opinion goes.

Cheryl, I agree that your plant is Syngonium podophyllum and I'd advise to be very, very careful if it's ever placed outside ... they are extremely invasive! We had a bunch of it cleared from our property earlier this year but there's still tons of it taking over ... almost impossible to control once it's escapes cultivation!

Wildbloomers said:@Gina1960. I forgot to mention the invasiveness. I got hooked by their lovely immature forms and colors. I had some that were variegated, pink, mixed colors, and shapes from arrowhead to caladium-like. Years later they all reverted to plain green and they're practically impossible to stop.

I have noticed that they do revert. I have a few, including the much sought after green and white variegated one, that I actually bought years ago at the Tampa USF Botanical Garcens sale for under $15 for a hanging basket full....now people want $100 for a single cutting...crazy. I have let that one, Syngonium 'Confetti', and 'Mango Allusion' climb, and the leaves do enlarge, but they lose the variegation.

Tiffany, I think your plant is still showing immature growth and the newer leaves are only smaller because they are newer. If you can keep it from climbing it may keep its juvenile form and color. I've had/have that lovely pink form but just like epipremnum aureum the leaves get bigger as it climbs. At least E. aureum keeps its color. If you can show a picture of that plant rooted at ground level yet climbing 10 ' up a tree with small pink leaves, I stand corrected, apologize emphatically and would like to know where I can purchase one.

@Wildbloomers, you can't keep the color. I have tried for years.

@Gina1960. I'm eternally optimistic, but note that I said "may keep its juvenile form and color". Eventually some breeder will happen upon just the right gene combination to 'fix' the color...maybe. Or maybe gene splicing like is done in aquarium fish, a little creepy but if there was a market someone would exploit it. If I could have kept the color I'd have been using it as a ground cover instead of Epipremnum.

I have the Epipremnum called 'Shangri La' and am curious to see what it does when it climbs

Gina1960 said:

The usually will not mature from the juvenile leaf form until they climb. If allowed to trail or creep they usually stay in the juvenile form

Very interesting!! I have 5 pots of syngonium varieties. They hang/trail so that I can protect them in winter. I will experiment with a trellis in a pit to see how big I can get the leaves to grow!

Wild, I do not keep this plant in a pot anymore because the roots survive over winter but none of the above-ground growth can survive being frozen. I end up with what looks like Caladiums, usually, unless it starts going up a tree. That way, I get the best of both - a beautiful plant I don't have to bring inside but no risk of it invading anything. Haven't had enough rain the past few yrs to see any vining. The last time I had a pot of it, there was a tomato cage in the pot and it went into a mode with really small leaves. I thought I had some pics of it but I can't find any.

All of the below pics are the same plant over time, and various individuals propagated from the original, which I know because I have never bought any, just had what I dug up from the ground at my previous house in I think 2009. This plant is absolutely insane:

2012, potted:


2013:


2016:











2017:



2018:
Ground plants look great:



Potted plant just wants to climb and mature:



2021:
This is the appearance I prefer. This spot is in mostly sun all day, and this bit has been here for about 4-5 yrs. It has never shown signs of trying to form a vine while "awake" for summer, unlike individuals put in mostly shade. Pls try to ignore shredded paper mulch. It will "disappear" soon.


Spotted at Denver Botanical Garden in July, in tropical house:

Tiffany, it must be your freezing temps that keep it from maturing and becoming invasive. In your pics I see some intermediate leaves but no mature ones.

The bloom is nothing to write home about. These are getting ripped out today, I don't need volunteer seedlings. The reason they're so difficult to get rid of here is those roots. They are so numerous and cling so tightly that there are, inevitably, pieces of the stem left on the tree out of reach. Any node will put out new growth.

Good pics. ; )

You're right, when the last of my potted ones went into the feral mode, which it did after the 3-lobe phase, each leaf was so tiny and looked like a little razor blade, with extreme distance between the nodes. It was like it was having a panic attack about not being able to get higher or into more sun. I didn't say any of my pics showed fully mature leaves, just showing things I caught this strange plant doing over the yrs.

I thought about keeping that tomato cage pot one more winter and watching it climb up a tree the following summer but it was so much easier to just leave that pot outside and forget it. My curiosity had been satisfied and I can't take every copy of tender plants inside until I find a room-stretcher that really works.

This mature plant that I spotted years ago was in New Orleans.


And yes, as soon as there's a hard frost, Syngonium is toast above ground. A wonderful herbaceous perennial for this climate - if one likes clumps of leaves that look like a Caladium. Caladiums too rarely survive winter here.