Spider Plant (Chlorophytum)

Spider Plant (Chlorophytum Comosum)

Spider Plants make excellent house plants or indoor plants as they are not only easy-growing plants but have beneficial properties in cleansing the air of pollutants, especially formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. As it tolerates artificial lighting very well and has air purifying abilities, it’s most ideal in office environment where electronic pollutants are emitted. Chlorophytum is perfectly showy in hanging baskets, whether indoors or outside, as well as an ideal groundcover in garden beds or borders. Excellent too for container gardening or planter boxes, placed on balconies, window sills, or raised on a pedestal.

Plant Profile, Culture, and Propagation :

• Botanical Name: Chlorophytum comosum
• Common Name: Spider Plant, Variegated Spider Plant, Ribbon Plant, Airplane Plant.
• Family name: Liliaceae (Lily Family)
• Plant type: An evergreen herbaceous perennial native to South Africa.
• Light: Bright light or partial shade; Can tolerate direct morning sunlight but avoid direct midday/afternoon sunlight that can scorch its leaves.
• Moisture: Performs well with regular watering and allows soil to dry out between waterings. It can tolerate dry or humid conditions.
• Soil: Well-drained loamy soil, though adaptable to any kind of garden or potting soil.

Propagation:

Easily propagated by dividing its root and stem mass. The better and easier alternative is to remove the baby plantlets growing along the elongated stolons and plant them individually in pots on the ground or in water.

Moreover, Spider Plants love to be pot-bound, and by not disturbing the main root mass, they will produce more plantlets to reward you. And, if the parent plant is planted on the ground, the baby plantlets that it produces take root easily wherever they touch the ground. Chlorophytum can also be propagated from seeds, though rarely done.

Features:

Chlorophytum comosum is a fast growing, evergreen clump-forming plant reaching 1-1.5 ft tall with a spread of 2 feet, popularly grown for its attractive foliage. Its grass-like recurving leaves that grow from a central rosette are long, slender, and tapering, measuring 20-40 cm (8-15 in) long and less than 2 cm broad.

The species Chlorophytum comosum has medium to dark-green satiny leaves, but most cultivars are variegated. Variegated leaves come in various shades of green bands with a white or yellow center stripe or vice versa. As it matures, it produces gracefully arching stolons that can be 1-3 ft long and adorned with small white starry flowers (less than 1.5cm across). At the flowering nodes, baby plantlets are formed, resembling their miniature self, though more spider-like with their cluster of curled leaves and air roots. Hence, they are aptly known by their common names, ‘Spider Plant’ or ‘Airplane Plant’. It has fleshy tuberous roots that store reserve food.

Care:

Requires bright light or filtered sunlight for best growth and vibrant leaf colors. Never locate Spider Plants in full sun that will scorch their foliage. Remove yellow or dried leaves to keep it tidy. Be aware that too little water, too low humidity, too much salts and excess fluorides in the water can cause leaf tips to turn brown. Mist leaves occasionally, and preferably water them with rain water or aquarium water. Fertilize sparingly as excess nutrients can retard its ability to produce more plantlets. Plants are susceptible to root rot if waterlogged otherwise they are least bothered by pests and diseases!