Philodendron 'White Knight' vs. 'White Princess' (and 'White Wizard'): How to Tell Them Apart

‘White Knight’, ‘White Princess’ and ‘White Wizard’ are three white-variegated philodendrons that look alike in a nursery pot, and the reliable information on them is thinner than the internet suggests. The clearest documented differences: ‘White Princess’ is a cultivar of Philodendron erubescens with green leaves splashed with white, ‘White Wizard’ has solid green petioles according to a US plant patent, and the parent species of ‘White Knight’ isn’t confirmed by any botanical source. Care is the same for all three.

That last point matters if you’re about to spend real money on a plant labeled only by a name tag. Below is what we could verify, what we couldn’t, and how to use that when you’re looking at a plant in person.

White Knight vs. White Princess vs. White Wizard at a glance

	‘White Knight’	‘White Princess’	‘White Wizard’
Species	unclear; not confirmed in botanical databases	Philodendron erubescens (NC State Extension); RHS lists the name as “unresolved”	unclear; a patent calls it a commercial philodendron without naming a species
Petioles (leaf stalks)	not described in any source we found	not described in any source we found	solid green (US patent USPP36203P2)
Variegation	dark green with bold white; varies from almost no white to almost no green from leaf to leaf (Costa Farms)	green leaves splashed with white (NC State Extension); larger white and grayish-white areas than its sport ‘Princess Taffy’ (patent)	no light yellow or yellow-green tones (patent); no fuller description found
Habit	climbing; tabletop plant when young, vines as it matures (Costa Farms)	not described separately; the species climbs (NC State Extension)	not described in sources we found
Growth rate	relatively slow; the whiter the plant, the slower (Costa Farms)	not documented	not documented

“Not described” means exactly that: we didn’t find it in a botanical, university or patent source. Plenty of shops and blogs publish confident trait lists for all three, but they often contradict each other and cite nothing, so we left them out.

Which species is White Princess?

NC State Extension lists ‘White Princess’ among the cultivars of Philodendron erubescens, the blushing philodendron, and describes it as having green leaves splashed with white variegation. The same list includes ‘Pink Princess’, ‘Red Emerald’ and ‘Prince of Orange’.

A US plant patent from 2024 backs this up indirectly. It covers ‘Princess Taffy’, a cultivar discovered in 2022 as a spontaneous whole-plant mutation (a sport) in a greenhouse population of ‘White Princess’, and it classifies ‘Princess Taffy’ as Philodendron erubescens. According to the patent, ‘White Princess’ leaves have larger areas of white and grayish-white than ‘Princess Taffy’, and never show the light yellow and yellow-green tones of its offspring.

The RHS has a plant entry for Philodendron ‘White Princess’ (v), where “(v)” marks a variegated plant, but it lists the name status as “unresolved” and gives no description.

For comparison, NC State Extension describes the plain species as a climbing plant from Colombia with heart-shaped, glossy, deep green leaves and purplish-red petioles about as long as the leaf blade.

Which species is White Knight?

Unclear. Neither the RHS, NC State Extension nor the other botanical databases we checked have an entry that names a parent species for ‘White Knight’. Some sellers list it as a Philodendron erubescens cultivar, but we found no reliable source to confirm it, so we call it simply Philodendron ‘White Knight’, as in our White Knight care guide.

What is documented:

• Variegation: dark green leaves with bold white variegation. Costa Farms says each leaf is different: one may come out with little to no white, the next with little to no green.
• Habit: a climber that starts as a compact tabletop plant and vines as it matures. On a support, the leaves get much larger (Costa Farms).
• Growth: relatively slow, because white leaf areas carry no chlorophyll. The more variegation, the slower the plant grows (Costa Farms).
• Propagation: a 2025 peer-reviewed study by Kang and Sivanesan describes ‘White Knight’ as a climbing evergreen philodendron usually multiplied by stem cuttings, which the authors call slow. The authors note that no earlier reports on tissue culture of this cultivar existed.

Does White Knight have burgundy stems?

You’ll often see this claim online, but we couldn’t confirm it. No botanical or extension source we opened describes the color of ‘White Knight’ petioles or stems.

There is one related data point. The ‘Princess Taffy’ patent compares its plant with two commercial cultivars: ‘White Wizard’, whose petioles are “colored solid green,” and a cultivar spelled ‘White Night’, whose petioles are dark purple. The patent doesn’t say whether ‘White Night’ is the plant sold as ‘White Knight’. Treat it as a hint, not proof.

In practice: if the petioles are solid green, a ‘White Wizard’ label is plausible. Dark petioles don’t rule anything in or out on published evidence alone, so buy from a seller who can show you the mother plant.

What we know about White Wizard

Very little from reliable sources. ‘White Wizard’ shows up in the ‘Princess Taffy’ patent as an unpatented commercial philodendron with solid green petioles and no light yellow or yellow-green tones on the leaves. We found no RHS, NC State Extension or other botanical entry that confirms its species, leaf shape or growth habit.

How stable is the variegation?

None of the three is documented as a stable variegation, and the evidence points the other way.

• ‘White Knight’: Costa Farms describes leaves that swing from nearly all green to nearly all white. In the Kang and Sivanesan study, most shoots regenerated from petiole tissue had plain green leaves, and only a subset came out variegated.
• ‘White Princess’: the ‘Princess Taffy’ patent shows that ‘White Princess’ can throw sports, meaning shoots whose coloring differs from the parent.

What that means at home: heavily white leaves look great but make less energy, while all-green shoots grow faster and can take over. The RHS recommends cutting back to just after a leaf node; for variegated plants, choose a node with a well-balanced leaf. More in our guide to variegation reversion.

Do they need different care?

No. Care follows the general rules for climbing philodendrons, with extra caution because white tissue burns and grows slowly.

	What to do	Source
Light	bright, indirect; within about 3 feet of an unobstructed east- or west-facing window; grow lights work	RHS, Costa Farms
Sun	keep out of direct summer sun; white areas scorch easily	RHS, Costa Farms
Water	when the top 1–2 inches of mix are dry; better slightly dry than too wet	Costa Farms, RHS
Mix	loose, free-draining, slightly acidic (pH 5–6), e.g. 2 parts orchid mix to 1 part peat-free ericaceous mix	RHS
Temperature	above 59°F (15°C); the species prefers 65–85°F	RHS, NC State Extension
Humidity	average to above average; dry air can deform new leaves	Costa Farms
Support	moss pole or trellis; keep the pole moist so aerial roots grow in	RHS, Costa Farms

To propagate, the RHS suggests stem cuttings about 4 inches (10 cm) long, cut just below a leaf joint between spring and late summer. Standing in water, they root in a couple of weeks. With variegated plants, a cutting with balanced variegation is the safer bet: an almost all-white piece has very little chlorophyll to grow on.

Are they toxic to cats and dogs?

Yes. The ASPCA lists variegated philodendrons as toxic to dogs and cats because of calcium oxalate crystals. Chewing causes intense burning and irritation of the mouth, lips and tongue, heavy drooling, vomiting and difficulty swallowing. The RHS warns that philodendron sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves when you cut or repot.

How to buy the right one

Since names on labels are the main thing separating these plants, the label and the seller matter more than usual:

1. Ask to see the mother plant or several leaves from the same plant. On ‘White Knight’, one leaf tells you little because the pattern varies so much.
2. Check the petioles. Solid green fits the published description of ‘White Wizard’.
3. Look for new growth. A plant with a green growing tip may push mostly green leaves.
4. Be wary of detailed trait lists without sources. We found many that contradict each other.

Our guide to buying rare houseplants covers the rest, and if you like the P. erubescens family, see Pink Princess care.

In the game

In Rare Leaf Tycoon you grow Philodendron ‘White Knight’ and ‘Pink Princess’ from cuttings of a stable or unstable mother line and see each leaf’s pattern only after the reveal: green, unstable, stable or a rare pattern. The herbarium has 24 cards to collect. Growing is simplified in the game, and plants never die.