SPIDER PLANT
What is it about plants with the word “spider” in their common names? There are several of them, including: “spiderwort” or Tradescantia virginiana; cleome, with its big, colorful spidery flowers; and that old household favorite, spider plant or Chlorophytum comosum. The common theme–other than a plant, leaf or flower form that looks somehow “spidery”–is the ability to reproduce abundantly. Tradescantia will fill up entire shady corners of the garden if you let it, and cleome will self seed with wild abandon. Left to its own devices, spider plant will produce dozens of baby “spiders” every year.
Most people have seen spider plants, even if they didn’t know what to call them. The plant’s appearance is unmistakable, with a mounding, fountain-like array of long slender leaves and even longer arching flower stalks that are eventually tipped by tiny offspring. Spider plants are the kind of indoor ornamentals that grandmothers or great grandmothers would have hung from ceiling hooks or placed on decorative pedestals. First described by late eighteenth century and botanist Karl Pehr Thunberg, the species is native to South Africa, one of the world’s horticultural treasure troves. The Latin name, “Chlorophytum comosum” is descriptive. “Chloro” means “green” and “comosum” means hair, which undoubtedly refers to the flower stalks.
It is a mystery to me why anyone would voluntarily buy a spider plant, because so many people have them already and they are so easy to propagate. I suspect that is why I was unable to find a single online retail source for specimen spider plants. The behemoth Chlorophytum comosum that spends its winters in my dining room and its summers in a corner of my back garden, has been around so long that I have forgotten where it came from. However, I have many generous, plant-loving friends, and the baby spider plant was probably a gift from one of them. It was almost certainly propagated by a gardener who pinned one of the tiny plantlets to the top of the soil in a small pot and then left the pot close to the parent plant. After a few weeks the new plant rooted itself and the gardener detached it from the parent. Baby “spiders” will also root in a jiffy in a glass of water. With a little effort, you can produce enough spider plants to supply any of your friends and family who don’t have one already.
By spreading the plants around, you would be doing your nears and dears a favor. Not only is Chlorophytum comosum easy to grow and eager to reproduce, it cleans the air. The big green spiders dispatch airborne toxins including formaldehyde, benzene and, especially, carbon monoxide. They are the ultimate good neighbors.
I can attest to the fact that spider plants also thrive on neglect. Mine has been ignored for years. I forget to water it, almost never fertilize it, and even occasionally lose track of it when it’s on its summer vacation in the garden. In response to all this inattention, it produces a plethora of white, six-petaled flowers every year. They are inevitably followed by the baby plantlets, ready for propagation.
Spider plants are, in fact, hard to kill. Overwatering will do it, so if you have a tendency to kill plants with kindness, be sure to restrain yourself and water only when the surface of the soil is dry. The plants are less fussy about light than many other indoor ornamentals. Generally medium to bright indoor light is fine. Outside, spiders need a bit of shade or the foliage will burn.
Like many ornamentals that are grown primarily for foliage, spider plants are available in both green-leafed and variegated forms. The variegated forms, which include my plant, are more popular. My spider plant has leaves that are mostly white, with green margins. Some variegated versions reverse that combination, with white or cream-colored margins.
To get a spider plant of your own, ask around among friends and relatives until you find someone who will give you a rooted plantlet. If that doesn’t work, check the local nurseries, garden centers and big box stores periodically through the late fall and winter months. At some point in time one or all of those retailers will probably offer young plants.
Spider plants are decorative, unfussy and make themselves useful around the house by cleaning the air. In many households, they may be the only carbon-based life forms that can make that claim.