The New Mutated Manjula
On 3/05/22 I walked into a local nursery with my mom for her early birthday shenanigans. Right as we were about to leave a plant caught my eye. I knew it had to be a Pothos, but it was not like one I had seen before. It looked like a Manjula Pothos with the wild splashy leaves and hints of yellow, but these were more elongated. The colors came in splashes of green, white, and yellow! I snapped a quick photo and posted it in a local plant group, hoping someone would be able to ID it. *photo below*
I instantly started receiving comments and messages. Many people were wowed by its beauty, but I wasn’t getting much info on the plant itself and what it was exactly. Someone finally let me in on the secret as apparently several people had found out about it a few weeks prior. This mutated Manjula Pothos had been released by the University of Florida; I found out by a fellow plant lover willing to send me a link to the other group where she saw the post. I was late to the game and had no idea! It was an interesting read although not much info is known about it.
The mutated Manjula had been released before about 10 years ago, but the people that had it had a horrible time keeping it alive past 6 months. I read about it being a finicky plant to keep alive. However, I went ahead and spent the money on it anyway and decided I’d try my luck. Others rushed up there to snag one before they were gone, and while several nurseries across the U.S. had gotten them in, it appeared from comments across other groups that each nursery only received about six.
The University of Florida where the rare pothos came from was released most likely due to it being difficult to grow, one plant grower put. This new cultivar seems difficult to keep alive as it likes to push out all white leaves when the new growth comes through. Some have mentioned giving it lower light as to promote more green in the leaves. Either way it was an exciting day to find such a rare gem for myself and many others!
As the day went on I started seeing it pop up in multiple plant groups from several different states. My post got a lot of attention in a couple of groups, and while some kind people were congratulating those of us that were able to grab one and encouraging us to take good care of the new cultivar so we can hopefully in the future share with more plant lovers — I plan on doing just that— many others were instantly upset that some were already selling cuttings of the plant for an upwards of two hundred dollars and one comment even said they had seen it for sale at four hundred, but as low as fifty dollars. As ridiculous as that is to most of us, the high demand with little product + it being a rare gem will always make these plants sky rocket in price regardless of how we feel about it. With that said, some seemed a tad agitated that those of us who didn’t know what it even was were the ones that found it before them. To that I just say, I didn’t have the luck in seeing any of those posts a few weeks back and have been in your position before; avidly searching for a rare plant that I know I have no hopes in getting a hold of any time soon. Hopefully you’ll get one to add to your collection!
In the coming months I plan to air layer a cutting all while keeping the rest of the plant not only alive, but hopefully THRIVING! You might find a cutting here and there on Mercari and other sites, but beware as it has just been released recently and in shipping. If you get ahold of one, congratulations on your new rare find! If you don’t, stay tuned and some months from now I may have one or two for sale.
*(see bottom of page for link to the post in a facebook group where I found most info)*
Much love,
Keya - HFGT
