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If you love to breathe in clean air free of toxins; if you love beauty and class, if you love the refreshing scent of an opening leaf and an easy-to-grow plant, then you should consider growing spider plants.
Native to South Africa, spider plants have rapidly spread to every part of the world for two reasons.
One is its alluring color combination that helps for relaxation and focus. The second it’s easy to grow and has climate-resistant properties.
It is a perennial plant that stays green all year round giving a touch of freshness to areas where it is planted.
Spider plants can survive temperature conditions that are as low as two degrees celsius. This means that spider plants do not recede into dormancy during winter like other flowering plants.
They can grow healthily both in winter and summer. There are over two hundred varieties of spider plants that exist and grow in different parts of the world.
Their leaves grow really long and it is advised to grow the plant on a hanging plant pot. Although a plant pot that sits on a wooden surface or on the ground is not harmful to the plant.
This article outlines seven different types of spider plants, their features, and how to properly care for and grow them.
At the end of this article, it is expected that you can identify at least seven different types of spider plants and be helpful in their care, growth, and development.
Seven Types of Spider Plants?
There exist about two hundred varieties of spider plants. All of these species are loved and kept in homes as houseplants.
The differences in each of these varieties are not so pronounced and an average human wouldn’t mind getting another species of spider plant rather than the one he is used to.
Below are seven popular species of spider plants:
- Fire flash spider plant (chlorophytum orchidastrum)
- Bracket |Spider plant ( Chlorophytum Capense)
- Violet queen (cleome Hassleriana)
- Bonnie Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
- Hawaiian spider plant (Chlorophytum viridescens)
- Reverse spider plant (Chlorophytum Comosum ‘Reverse Variegatum.’)
- Shamrock Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
The “Chlorophytum” attached to all the above-listed varieties is the genus name of spider plants. By binomial nomenclature, spider plants go by the botanical name chlorophytum comosum.
1. Fire Flash Spider Plant (chlorophytum orchidastrum)
Fire flash spider plants are distinct in appearance from other spider plants. They do not have the usual green color like the other varieties of spider plants.
The leaves are shiny green and the stems vary between green and orange. Fire flash spider plants can grow up to two meters in height and have broad leaves.
They do not require too much care, just good soil, that is properly watered and has good nutrients. They are beautiful as windowpane ornamentals or as hanging flowers.
2. Bracket Spider plant ( Chlorophytum capense)
Bracket spider plants are unique from the rest of the spider plants. It usually does not produce flowers or leaves that extend and drop out of the plant pot.
The leaves grow straight and do not exceed one meter in height. Bracket spider plants have green leaves with white edges, unlike most spider plants that have white colors on the middle of the leaf.
3. Violet Queen (cleome hassleriana)
This is also called a purple spider plant. As the name suggests, this species of spider plant does not produce the usual green-colored leaves. Its leaves are a blend of purple and faint green.
Of all the species of spider plants, the violet queen spider plant is the most aromatic. It has a sweet, inviting fragrance. You could sit with a violet queen flower all day, just enjoying its scent.
4. Bonnie Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
The species with the longest leaf, bonnie spider plants are loved for their ability to curl their leaves into beautiful patterns.
With its characteristics of curling its leaves, you might easily confuse the bonnie spider plant for the variegated spider plant.
Bonnie plants are usually hard to find and a little expensive to maintain compared with other spider plant species.
To propagate bonnie spider plants, people depend on cut-off shoots and stems. Their faint yellow color makes the plant gitter in the dark as well as during the day.
5. Hawaiian spider plant (Chlorophytum viridescens)
Hawaiin spider plants are hybrids of the traditional spider plants. They are tropicals and can grow in fairly hot conditions.
Hawaiian spider plants are adapted for fast and fresh growth. They are usually drought resistant and can grow well under the hot sun as well as in shade.
Caring for Hawaiian spider plants does not require much from the gardener. It needs good well-draining soil with just enough nutrients for growth.
It also requires constant watering and since it can survive a long time without water, it does not need to be overwatered.
6. Reverse spider plant (Chlorophytum Comosum ‘Reverse Variegatum.’)
Reverse spider plants are an awesome way of adding variation to your garden. The leaves of a reverse variegated spider plant unlike the others; are white in the middle and green on its side.
This is probably why it is called a reverse spider plant.
The leaves of reverse spider plants can grow really broad and long, a beautiful sight to behold in full bloom.
Gardeners always prefer to grow the normal spider plant species with a few plant pots bearing reverse spider plants. This helps for uniqueness and a better aesthetic appeal.
Caring for reverse spider plants does not require special gardening skills, like the other spider plants, the reverse spider plant is easy to care for and can manage harsh weather conditions.
7. Shamrock Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum
Shamrock spider plants, nicknamed ocean, are a very rare breed of spider plants.
The leaves of shamrocks have no white or yellow colors on their middle or sides. They are completely green, from leaf to stem.
Shamrock Spider plants are also very easy to grow and have a way of adjusting to any condition they are subjected to.
They are likely to survive in the hands of an amateurish gardener as a houseplant.
Shamrock spider plants are best kept on a hanging plant pot, where they are scarcely watered.
Pest attack on shamrock spider plants causes the broad green leaves to develop browny edges and look wilting. This is why It is necessary to ward off pests as soon as they appear on leaves.
Categories of Spider Plants.
All of the above-mentioned spider plants and the hundreds of others that exist can be broadly categorized into three.
The categorization is based on the leaf structures and mode of propagation.
The categories of Spider plants are:
- Variegated Spider plants
- Non-Variegated spider plants
- Curling spider plants
1. Variegated Spider Plants
These are the general types of spider plants that usually have green leaves and a white color in between.
They are the most popular category of Spider plants and are grown in almost every spider plant-loving household.
2. Non-variegated Spider |Plants
The spider plants in this category are rare species that are not found in regular nurseries. This category is where the shamrock spider plant belongs.
To own a spider plant in this category, you have to buy the stems from professional gardening agencies.
Their leaves are completely green and do not have any color speck on the edges or middle.
3. Curling Spider Plants
This category of spider plants is characterized by leaves that can grow really long. The leaves grow up to six centimeters long and curl up.
They are also rare species and are usually the bushiest species of spider plants.
How Many Different Types of Spider Plant are there?
There are two hundred (200) known types of spider plants. Each of which is closely similar and only differs from one another in slight ways.
Not all of the two hundred types of spider plants are popular and some of them have not been grown anywhere in the world in the last decade.
The most popular spider plants have been listed above.
How do I Identify a Spider Plant
Spider plants are characterized by the following:
- They propagate easily by the use of stolons. Stolons are stems of spider plants that grow very close to the soil surfaces and sometimes creep on the soil.
- They are highlanders. Highlanders are perennial plants that can live for up to 25 years.
- Spider plants have long slender leaves attached to an interconnected branched stem
- Their leaves vary in color arrangement with some having white colors on the edges and some having white colors on the middle.
- Spider plants grow properly in hot temperatures and cannot tolerate very cold temperatures.
What is the Plant that Looks like a Spider Plant?
The Japanese Carex is the closest lookalike of the spider plants.
The leaves of the carex are slender, long, and have the same color combinations as the variegated spider plants.
The difference however is that the leaves of the Japanese Carex are more slender than that of the South African spider plants.
Is there a Purple spider Plant?
Yes, there is. The species of spider plant that produce purple leaves is called the violet queen.
It is beautiful and aromatic. A choice spider plant.
Are there Male and Female Spider Plants
There are no male and female spider plants. The spider plant is strictly hermaphroditic.
This means that spider plants have both the male and female reproductive organs together.
So pollination occurs in the fixation of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of the plant.
Do Spider Plants like to be Crowded?
A spider plant grown in the garden has a different requirement from those grown indoors in plant pots.
Yet, one thing is common in these two. It is that they do not like to be crowded.
Too many spider plants growing together at a spot will prevent proper usage of nutrients and therefore hamper growth in them.
An indoor spider plant, planted in a plant pot likes to be in a confined space. Therefore, use a pant pot that fits the spider plant just fine.
Conclusion
Spider plants can make all the difference in your home’s interior decoration given how beautiful the leaves grow can become.
It doesn’t matter the type of spider plant you wish to have growing in your home as long as they are well cared for and propagated in the right soil.
