Chlorophytum comosum, often called spider plant but also known as airplane plant, St.
Bernard's lily, spider ivy, ribbon plant, and hen and chickens is a species of perennial
flowering plant.
It is native to tropical and southern Africa, but has become naturalized in other parts
of the world, including western Australia.
Chlorophytum comosum is easy to grow as a houseplant; variegated forms are the most
popular.
Chlorophytum comosum grows to about 60 centimetres (24 in) high.
It has fleshy, tuberous roots, about 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long.
The long narrow leaves reach a length of 20–45 cm (8–18 in) and are around 6–25 millimetres
(0.2–1.0 in) wide.
Flowers are produced in a long branched inflorescence, which can reach a length of up to 75 cm (30
in) and eventually bends downwards.
Flowers initially occur in clusters of 1–6 at intervals along the stem (scape) of the
inflorescence.
Each cluster is at the base of a bract, which ranges from 2–8 cm (0.8–3.1 in) in length,
becoming smaller towards the end of the inflorescence.
Most of the flowers which are produced initially die off, so that the inflorescences are relatively
sparsely flowered.
Chlorophytum comosum was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg
as Anthericum comosum in the 1794 volume of Prodromus Plantarum Capensium, Thunberg's
work on the plants of South Africa.
It was subsequently moved to a number of different genera, including Phalangium, Caesia, Hartwegia
Nees and Hollia, before receiving its current placement in Chlorophytum by Jacques in 1862.
There are three described varieties of the species: the autonym Chlorophytum comosum
var. comosum has strap-shaped narrow leaves and is found along forest margins, C. comosum
var. bipindense has broader, petiolate leaves with stripes on the underside and the inflorescences
are 2-3 times the length of the leaves, and Chlorophytum comosum var. sparsiflorum also
has broader leaves that narrow to the base and usually lacks a petiole and the striping
on the underside of the leaf and the inflorescences are up to two times the length of the leaves.
The latter two are rain forest-dwelling taxa that had earlier been described as separate
species, but botanists Axel Dalberg Poulsen and Inger Nordal reduced the taxa to varieties
of C. comosum in 2005.
Chlorophytum comosum has a widespread native distribution in Africa, being native to six
of the 10 World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions regions of Africa (West
Tropical Africa, West-Central Tropical Africa, Northeast Tropical Africa, East Tropical Africa,
South Tropical Africa and Southern Africa).
Chlorophytum comosum is a popular houseplant.
The species with all-green leaves forms only a small proportion of plants sold.
More common are two variegated cultivars: • Chlorophytum comosum 'Vittatum' has mid-green
leaves with a broad central white stripe.
It is often sold in hanging baskets to display the plantlets.The long stems are white.
• Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum' has darker green leaves with white margins.
It is generally smaller than the previous cultivar.
The long stems are green.
Spider plants are easy to grow, being able to thrive in a wide range of conditions.
They will tolerate temperatures down to 2 °C (35 °F), but grow best at temperatures
between 18 °C (65 °F) and 32 °C (90 °F).
Plants can be damaged by high fluoride or boron levels.
Spider plants have also been shown to reduce indoor air pollution in the form of formaldehyde,
and approximately 70 plants would neutralize the formaldehyde released by materials in
a representative (ca. 160 m2 [1,700 sq ft]) energy-efficient house, assuming each plant
occupies a 3.8 L pot.