Chlorophytum comosum, usually called spider plant or common spider plant due to its spider-like look, also known as spider ivy, airplane plant, ribbon plant (a name it shares with Dracaena sanderiana), is a species of evergreen perennial flowering plant of the family Asparagaceae. It is native to tropical and Southern Africa but has become naturalized in other parts of the world, including Western Australia and Bangladesh. Chlorophytum comosum is easy to grow as a houseplant because of its resilience, but it can be sensitive to the fluoride in tap water, which commonly gives it "burnt tips". Variegated forms are the most popular.
Description
Chlorophytum comosum grows to about tall, although as a hanging plant it can descend many feet. It has fleshy, tuberous roots, each about long. The long narrow leaves reach a length of and are around wide.
thumb|175px|Flower of 'Vittatum'
Flowers are produced in a long, branched inflorescence, which can reach a length of up to and eventually bends downward to meet the earth. 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 in length, becoming smaller toward the end of the inflorescence. Most of the flowers that are produced initially die off, so that relatively, the inflorescences are sparsely flowered.
Taxonomy
The first formal description of Chlorophytum comosum was 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. The species was subsequently moved to a number of different genera, including Phalangium, Caesia, Hartwegia <small>Nees</small>, and Hollia, before receiving its current placement in Chlorophytum by Jacques in 1862.
Delimitation of species boundaries within the genus Chlorophytum is reported to be difficult, possibly because of several evolutionary radiations into forest environments that led to morphological aspects that are too similar to reliably distinguish separate species. The evidence given to support this is the widespread distribution of most taxa in the genus and poor seed dispersal, leading to the conclusion of deeper evolutionary divergence among the taxa. thumb|'Variegatum'
The three described varieties in C. comosum could be an example of this convergent evolution of leaf shape among the forest-dwelling varieties from species of disparate origin, leading to the species C. comosum being polyphyletic, instead of the traditional view of morphological divergence among the varieties within the species with the assumption of a common origin (monophyly). The widespread C. comosum var. comosum has slender, near linear leaves that lack a petiole similar to plants found in cultivation and is only found growing at the margins of the rainforest. The two other varieties, C. comosum var. sparsiflorum and C. comosum var. bipindense, possess petioles and have broader leaves necessary for collecting more light in the shady Guineo-Congolean rainforest. A study published in 2005 used 16 morphological characters and was unable to delimit species boundaries among these three taxa, so they were relegated to varietal status.
Distribution
Chlorophytum comosum has a widespread native distribution in Africa, being native to six of the ten 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).
- C. comosum 'Vittatum' has mid-green leaves with a broad central white stripe. It is often sold in hanging baskets to display the plantlets.
- C. comosum 'Variegatum' has darker green leaves with white margins. It is generally smaller than the previous cultivar. The long stems are green.
Both cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).
In 2021, 17 other cultivars were listed, including 'Bonnie', 'Green Bonnie' and 'Hawaiian'.
Propagation
alt=A picture of a spider plant's plantlets and budding flowers.|thumb|Plantlets and budding flowers alt=Microscope image of a seed.|thumb|Plant seed taken on a microscope
Propagating Chlorophytum comosum commonly occurs through potting the plantlets, informally referred to as 'spiderettes', or 'pups', directly into potting soil, or pumice, attached to the main plant or cutting the running stems and then potting them.
Spider plants are easy to grow, being able to thrive in a wide range of conditions. They will tolerate temperatures down to , but grow best at temperatures between and . Plants can be damaged by high fluoride or boron levels. and are considered edible.
The results also failed to replicate in future studies, with a 2014 review stating that:
In the laboratory settings used in the Clean Air Study, spider plants were shown to reduce formaldehyde pollution, and approximately 70 plants would neutralize the formaldehyde released by materials in a representative (c. ) energy-efficient house, assuming each plant occupies a pot.
Edibility
The tuberous roots are reportedly edible (whether raw or cooked unstated) although mild laxative effects are claimed by the Nguni people of its native South Africa.