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Chlorophytum comosum
Also called Ribbon Plant, Spider Ivy, Spiderplant, Walking Anthericum, Hen And Chickens, Ribbonplant, Bracket Plant
In Singapore: Spider Plant, Hens-and-chickens, Variegated Spider Plant, Variegated Spider Ivy (Cultivated in Singapore)
Spider plant is a common evergreen perennial houseplant with arching, grass-like leaves and runners that produce small plantlets. It is very forgiving, though it can develop brown leaf tips from fluoride in tap water.
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), and hen and chicks, 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.
Chlorophytum comosum is a popular houseplant. The cultivars with all-green leaves forms only a small proportion of plants sold. More common are two variegated cultivars:
C. 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. There is also a "curly" version with this type of striping and compact size.
Spider plants are non-toxic to humans and pets, and are considered edible.
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).
Safed Musli · Bracketplant · Pongol Sword · Chlorophytum tuberosum · Grass Lilies
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chlorophytum comosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
