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I now work at a new desk and inherited this plant.

Click to enlarge.

What is it and what can I do with it (to fix it or trim it)? Indoors, no sunlight.

I am not a gardener :)

Patrick B.
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Avraham
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1 Answers1

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This plant is the spider plant or Chlorophytum comosum. The most common variety has a white stripe down the middle of the leaf but your variety is also grown indoors. It is native to tropical and South Africa, used as an outdoor bedding plant in Florida and most commonly seen growing indoors.

They will flower under high light conditions and are able to thrive under a wide variety of light conditions. Any peat based potting mix will do. They are easily propagated by taking the baby plants that start growing along the stem or by division of existing plants. Offsets or divisions can do quite well in water until they are ready for transplanting.

For maintenance you do not need to do much. Trim off dead or yellowing leaves, water regularly and thoroughly. If you want you can divide the root ball and give some to your friends and coworkers.

Edit: @Bamboo Yes I am 100% sure it's a spider plant if you look at the photo under maximum magnification you will see the typical flowers on a stalk in the upper right corner.

@violadaprile Yes, daylily leaves do look like spider plant leaves but you cannot grow a daylily indoors in the light levels that an office has of ~500 lux. They require light levels of ~10,000 Lux. If this was a daylily it would look very unhealthy quickly if kept indoors.

kevinskio
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  • Kevinsky, you sure its Chlorophytum? I'm not - it looks more like something which might have had flowers, like a bulb or something. Either that or a Carex, it looks a bit too messy for Chlorophytum and the leaves in some parts are quite broad and long. Also no sign of baby plants, which I'd expect to see on something this size? The roots should tell what it is for sure though... – Bamboo Apr 06 '13 at 11:24
  • Very true! I can just say you have reason :) – violadaprile Apr 06 '13 at 20:29
  • Though, he talk about new desk. And didn't say anything about how much time this plant spent there. And the yellow-almost white low long leaves let think of a suffering plant ... – violadaprile Apr 07 '13 at 08:02
  • Violadaprile - correct, desk new to me, plant was there for some time neglected. Kevinsky - Thank you for your reply. I was out sick for a few days, so when I return I will try to get it back to heath also. – Avraham Apr 09 '13 at 16:56