Also encountered as: Scindapsus Bentol, Black Mamba Bentol, Bentol Black Mamba
Family: Araceae
Genus: Scindapsus
Species: Unresolved
Naming status: Horticultural / trade name
Origin / provenance: Associated horticulturally with Borneo, Indonesia - exact locality and provenance not documented
“Black Mamba” is a horticultural name used for a Scindapsus known for exceptionally dark-green to near-black foliage. Some plants develop a strongly bullate surface, with raised areas giving the leaf a distinctly sculptural or blistered appearance. Other material circulating under the name may be smoother or retain visible silver patterning.
The name Bentol has an important place in its horticultural history. In Indonesian, bentol can refer to a raised bump or swelling, a fitting description of the strongly bullate foliage. The name Scindapsus Bentol is documented in online horticultural usage by at least 2021, while Bentol / Black Mamba appears together by late 2021. The available chronology raises the possibility that Bentol predates the wider international use of Black Mamba, although the original naming history remains undocumented.
Modern commerce also uses combinations such as Black Mamba Bentol and Bentol Black Mamba. There is currently insufficient evidence to treat Bentol as a formally distinct form of Black Mamba.
Although some sellers identify the plant as Scindapsus pictus Black Mamba, documentation establishing that species identification has not been identified. The more conservative designation is therefore Scindapsus sp. Black Mamba.
Its exact botanical identity, original collector or originator, and relationship among the different forms circulating under these names remain unresolved.
Variegated Greens classification: Horticultural name of unresolved botanical identity.
Horticultural names can change as plants move through cultivation and international trade. Where documentation is incomplete, this Library preserves the uncertainty rather than filling the gaps with assumptions.
Research current as of September 2026.