{"id":4376,"date":"2026-10-02T16:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/?p=4376"},"modified":"2026-10-02T16:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:01:03","slug":"lookalike-plants-tell-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/lookalike-plants-tell-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Lookalike plants: learn to tell apart the pairs people mix up most"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has probably happened to you: you buy a plant convinced it is a kentia palm, someone tells you it is an areca and you start to wonder. Lookalike plants<\/strong> are pairs of species that look like the same plant at first glance, but are not. At Losteflor we have picked 5 of these pairs so you can tell them apart at a glance.<\/p>\n

Why some plants look the same<\/h2>\n

Most lookalike plants are not similar by chance. Many are close relatives: they share a botanical family, and with it the shape of the leaves, the type of flower or the way they grow. Others have nothing to do with each other and only share one striking detail, such as a flower packed with petals.<\/p>\n

Knowing which one you have at home is not just a botanist’s obsession. Each species needs its own light, watering and spot, and what suits one may not suit its twin so well. That is why it pays to look at the details we explain below.<\/p>\n

5 pairs of lookalike plants and how to tell them apart<\/h2>\n

In each image you have both plants together, split down the middle: one on the left and its twin on the right. Look at the photo first and then read the clues.<\/p>\n

Kentia palm and areca palm<\/h3>\n
\"Kentia<\/figure>\n

Among indoor palms, these are the most common lookalike plants and the ones people mix up the most. The kentia is a deep, intense green, with broad leaflets that droop gracefully. It grows slowly and copes better with corners that get less light.<\/p>\n

The areca is lighter, a green that leans towards yellow, with thin, plentiful leaflets that give it a lighter feel. The final clue is at the base: the areca sends up lots of stems from below, yellowish and ringed, a bit like bamboo canes. It needs more light than the kentia to keep that green.<\/p>\n

Pothos and heartleaf philodendron<\/h3>\n
\"Variegated<\/figure>\n

Here the confusion is almost guaranteed, because both are climbers with heart-shaped leaves that trail from a shelf in exactly the same way. Pothos has thicker, waxy leaves, slightly asymmetrical, and very often marbled with yellow or white. If you want to get to know it better, we cover it in our guide to pothos care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The heartleaf philodendron has thinner, softer leaves, with a more defined heart shape and an elongated tip. Another difference you can spot up close: on the philodendron, new leaves emerge wrapped in a small sheath that later dries up, and on the pothos they do not.<\/p>\n

Rose and ranunculus<\/h3>\n
\"Pink<\/figure>\n

This pair proves that two lookalike plants do not even have to be cousins. A fully open ranunculus flower, pink and crammed with petals, looks a lot like a rose. But you only need to look from the petal down to the plant to settle it.<\/p>\n

The rose is a woody shrub, with thorns on the stems and toothed leaves divided into several leaflets. Ranunculus is a herbaceous plant, with no thorns, a slender stem and deeply cut leaves, almost like parsley. Its flower also has paper-thin petals, arranged in tight layers, and often a greenish centre.<\/p>\n

Peace lily and anthurium<\/h3>\n
\"Peace<\/figure>\n

Both belong to the same family and their flower follows the same pattern: a modified leaf called a spathe that surrounds a central spike. That is why they are so easy to confuse, especially when there are white anthuriums around.<\/p>\n

The peace lily has a white, matt, hood-shaped spathe, and long, lance-shaped leaves that rise from the base. The anthurium has a glossy spathe, as if waxed, almost always red and heart-shaped, and its leaves are heart-shaped too. If the flower looks like plastic, bet on the anthurium.<\/p>\n

Calathea and maranta<\/h3>\n
\"Calathea<\/figure>\n

We finish with two lookalike plants from the same family, famous for their painted leaves and for folding them up at nightfall. Even so, calathea and maranta are easy to tell apart if you look at the pattern and the growth habit.<\/p>\n

Calathea grows more upright, with large leaves on long stems and patterns that vary a lot between varieties, often with a purple underside. Maranta has smaller, oval leaves, a lower and more spreading habit, and in varieties like the one in the image, red veins that draw a herringbone over the green.<\/p>\n

How to settle the doubt with your lookalike plants<\/h2>\n

When in doubt, do not stop at the flower or the colour, which are the most misleading. Look at the base, the stems, the thickness of the leaf and how the plant grows. With those four clues you can solve almost any pair of lookalike plants.<\/p>\n

And if you are still not sure, bring us a photo or a leaf to the nursery in Chiclana. We will help you put a name to it and tell you what care it needs.<\/p>\n

\nCome and see them at the nursery \u2192<\/a>
\nWrite to us \u2192<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Frequently asked questions about lookalike plants<\/h2>\n

Do lookalike plants need the same care?<\/h3>\n

Not always. Two plants looking alike does not mean they need the same things: the areca wants more light than the kentia, and the rose and the ranunculus have very different cycles. That is why it is worth knowing exactly which one you have before deciding where to put it and how much to water it.<\/p>\n

Which ones are safe if I have a dog or a cat?<\/h3>\n

According to the ASPCA plant database<\/a>, calathea and maranta are considered non-toxic to dogs and cats. On the other hand, pothos, philodendron, peace lily and anthurium contain calcium oxalate crystals that irritate the mouth if chewed, so it is best to keep them out of reach.<\/p>\n

What do I do if I do not know which plant I have?<\/h3>\n

Take a photo of the whole plant and a close-up of the leaf and the base of the stems. With that, at the nursery we can almost always identify it and recommend the spot and watering that suit it best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kentia or areca, pothos or philodendron, rose or ranunculus, peace lily or anthurium, calathea or maranta: the clues to tell apart 5 pairs of plants that look the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"Lookalike plants: the 2026 guide to telling them apart","rank_math_description":"Lookalike plants that seem identical: learn to tell kentia from areca, pothos from philodendron, rose from ranunculus, peace lily from anthurium and more.","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"lookalike plants"},"categories":[274],"tags":[316,243,318,315,194,317],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-losteflor-nursery","tag-areca","tag-calathea","tag-filodendro","tag-kentia","tag-plantas-de-interior","tag-pothos"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4378,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions\/4378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losteflor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}