Golden Pothos Named Most Identified Plant in the US by Botan App Data

Americans’ enthusiasm for greenery remains strong. Statistics show that 23-24% call gardening a hobby, while 84% report a high interest in buying houseplants. The new 2026 Botan App research offers more insights into nationwide plant interest, revealing which species users identify most across all 50 states. 

It analyzed real user scans from January to October 2026. According to the anonymized data, golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is the most identified plant in America. It appeared in every state’s top 10 and ranked #1 in 30 of 50 states. 

What Drives Identification Scans for Golden Pothos

People use a plant identification app like Botan for many reasons. 

The Botan App study analyzed plant identification frequency, not users’ reasons for scanning. The following explanations are hypotheses based on the plants’ characteristics, common uses, and growing conditions.

In the case of golden pothos, the most plausible reasons are as follows: 

1. It’s widely available and seen everywhere. In 2024, golden pothos accounted for 2.9% of the total foliage plant market and had strong, repeated demand. People encounter it in stores, nurseries, and garden centers, as well as in offices, cafes, hotel lobbies, and shopping malls. 
2. It’s visually appealing but can be confused with other species. Pothos attracts attention due to its green-and-gold leaves and trailing stems. At the same time, it can look similar to heartleaf philodendron and other pothos varieties, such as marble queen pothos and neon pothos. 
3. High propagation activity. Pothos spreads from cuttings, which are easy to share. That, in turn, can trigger more identifications as people track the growth process and aim to care for the plant properly. 

Pothos tolerates imperfect conditions, can be grown indoors anywhere in the U.S., and is easy to find or replace. People across the country see and interact with it often, which may increase scans on the plant identifier app.

Identification Trends Across Major Plant Categories

Based on statistics provided by the Botan App, pothos is an undisputed leader, but across all 50 states, 56 different species made the top-10 rankings. They all fall into a few main categories: foliage plants, flowering houseplants, outdoor ornamentals, edible crops, and wild species. 

Each group and subgroup has its standout species with a large number of IDs across multiple states.

Regional Differences in How People Scan Plants

Though each state has its own unique identification pattern, we can clearly see some regional trends: 

• Differences across the South, West, Northeast, and Midwest. Golden pothos is the most scanned species in the West and Northeast. However, peace lily ranked #1 in 17 states, mostly in the South, making it the 2nd most identified plant in the US. The Midwest, however, is evenly split between the two species. The peace lily is more moisture-loving and thrives in southern summers, while it may struggle in drier climates. 
• Local favorites. Ti plant (Cordyline fruticosa) is the #1 in Hawaii — the only state where an outdoor tropical species wins. Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) is #1 in Maine, and nowhere else. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema commutatum) is the most identified species only in Montana. 

Also, Hawaii has a tropical landscape and 4 more tropical ornamentals in its ranking. Meanwhile, Mississippi and Massachusetts have the strongest presence of non-tropical outdoor and wild plants, which may be explained by both safety-first identifications and a desire to recognize unknown yet common species. 

About Botan App

Botan is a plant identification & care app using its own database of 30,000+ species and specialized AI to scan and recognize common, rare, and exotic plants in 3-5 seconds. The system uses specific botanical features, providing ID accuracy of up to 98%. The app also offers Disease ID, Light Meter, care guides, recovery plans, tasks, reminders, botanist chat, and other features.