Spider Plant
Chlorophytum comosum · the Ribbon Plant
From across tropical and southern Africa, it is the easiest plant in the world to multiply: it throws out long runners tipped with ready-made baby plants.
Family
Asparagaceae
Origin
South Africa
In the wild
Coastal grassland
Indoors
30–60 cm
Growth
Fast
With pets
Safe
Where it's from
Tropical and southern Africa
Coastal grassland
Widespread across tropical and southern Africa, in dappled shade.
Outdoors: zones 9–11
A perennial in mild climates; grown as an annual where it freezes.
A minor escapee
Naturalised here and there in Australia and the Pacific, but no real threat.
The plant that makes free plants
In summer it sends out long stems tipped with plantlets, miniature spider plants that dangle like spiders on a thread. Each one roots on its own. It is the single easiest propagation of any common houseplant.
Babies on runners
Mature plants throw out arching stems hung with ready-made pups.
Snip and root
Sit a pup in water or soil and it roots in days. One plant becomes a dozen gifts.
A Victorian craze
Nearly every upper-class Victorian household kept one. The original gateway houseplant.
How to keep it
LightBright, indirect
Keeps the variegation crisp. No harsh direct sun, which scorches.
WaterKeep lightly moist
Moist in summer; let the top inch dry in winter.
HumidityAverage is fineBrown tips if the air gets very dry.
Temperature13–27°CNo frost. Happy at normal room temperature.
SoilGeneral potting mixWell-draining; nothing special needed.
FeedingLight, in summerOver-feeding causes more brown tips than it cures.
DifficultyEasyA great first plant, and a great plant to give away.
With petsPet-safeNon-toxic to cats and dogs. Cats love to bat the dangling babies.
PropagationPlantletsSnip a baby off a runner and root it. Endlessly.
RepottingWhen pot-boundThick white roots will start to lift the plant out of its pot.
What the data says
What it costs
A true gateway plant: cheap, everywhere, and it pays you back in free babies.
$5–20
Reverse-variegated and curly types cost a little more, but nothing like a collector plant.
The famous air plant
Its fame is almost entirely from a sealed laboratory.
95%
of the formaldehyde gone in NASA's 1989 chamber, which made its name. In a real room, with normal airflow, the effect is negligible. A lovely plant, not an air purifier.
When it sulks
Brown leaf tipsThe signature issue: fluoride and chlorine in tap water. Use rainwater or distilled.
Pale, washed-out leavesToo much direct sun, or too little light for the variegation.
No babiesOften too young, or the pot is too roomy; they pup once settled.
Soft, rotting baseOverwatering. Ease off and improve drainage.
Varieties & company
The varieties
VittatumVariegatumBonnie (curly)Reverse / OceanHawaiian
Pairs with · keep apart from
Parlor PalmCalatheaFernsCactiSucculents
A new plant, every week.
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