Talk:Chlorophytum comosum

Concerning neglect
Whaaaat? "Very tolerant of neglect"? I killed my spider plant due to an extended period of neglect. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 151.202.100.230 (talk • contribs) 19:49, 21 July 2005  (UTC)
 * For what it's worth (FWIW), i only water mine about once a month, when i remember, and it never seems to die. Maybe I just have good dirt? --65.73.239.62 21:29, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Mine has survived once I decided that it needs very very very little water at least where it is now. Maybe you're over watering? That kills a lot of plants anyway. Of course there could be problems with the soil, pot size, light, air etc. blades 11:48, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Concerning chemicals
"Studies have shown it to be particularly effective in absorbing chemicals (formaldehyde, benzene, etc) and cleaning the air in homes, or offices" - Is there an official link to that "study"? I have heard the same info via word of mouth, but I've never seen anything in writing, aside from this article, which doesn't count since no source has been given. --65.73.239.62 21:29, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * The original study was conducted by NASA when they were looking for more productive ways of natural air filtration for enclosed spaces. I will try to find a link to it through their web site if I can, but I encourage anyone else who would like to help.TheTomato 23:05, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I found and added some links to information about its filtering properties; I also clarified the last paragraph. (Spider plants have only been proven to filter a few chemicals, the original wording could lead one to believe that it has been proven as an all-purpose filter.)TheTomato 23:28, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I just checked the main source "NASA Clean Air Study" and it does not mention this exact plant. The same researcher (Wolverton B.C.) did publish a different article in which it was tested: Foliage Plants for Removing Indoor Air Pollutants from Energy-Efficient Homes Author(s): B. C. Wolverton, Rebecca C. McDonald and E. A. Watkins, Jr. Source: Economic Botany, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1984), pp. 224-228

Studies on spider plants
Some studies that mention the effects of spider plants (haven't found links for them yet):


 * Giese, M., U. Bauer-Doranth, C. Langebartels and H. Sandermann, Jr., "Detoxification of Formaldehyde by the Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum L.) and by Soybean (Glycine max L.) Cell Suspension Cultures," Plant Physiology, 1994, 104:1301-1309. (Germany).
 * Oyabu, T., T. Onodera, H. Kimura, et al. "Purification Ability of Interior Plants for Removing of Indoor Air Polluting Chemicals Using a Tin Oxide Gas Sensor," J. of Japan Society for Atmospheric Environ., 2001, Vol. 34(6):319-325. (Japan).
 * Wolverton, B. C., A. Johnson and K. Bounds, "Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution batement," NASA/ALCAFinal Report, Plants for Clean Air Council, Davidsonville, Maryland, 1989. (U.S.).
 * Fjeld, T., et al. "Effect of Indoor Foliage Plants on Health and Discomfort Symptoms Among Office Workers," Indoors + Built Environment, 1998, 7:204-206. (Norway).

--Ddro 22:06, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Loss of variegation
Just an observation as a low grade plant freak: the variagated (sp?) plant shown in the picture produces seeds that almost invariably grow into the all green version which most people don't like nearly as well. So I'm guessing the white stripe version is a hybrid or accident???Bdgriz56 (talk) 15:21, 22 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, the variegated forms represent accidents/mutations whereby cell lineages lack chloroplasts, either those that form the centre of the leaf or those that form the edges of the leaf. The long stems are of the same colour as the centre of the leaf. Peter coxhead (talk) 14:12, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Plastid inheritance
Because I don't know where to put it yet... Plastid inheritance in this species is weird. Unlike the majority of flowering plants, this species has a higher rate of the chance of biparental inheritance as opposed to the typical maternal inheritance. I think it's really neat and worth mentioning, but I'm not sure how to integrate that information in the article. Rkitko (talk) 03:59, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a fine extra section to me. There is quite a bit of literature about paternal plastid inheritance, for example "Strict paternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA" turns up quite a list in Google, not just this article. Nadiatalent (talk) 13:17, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't suppose there's a connection, but the plastid behaviour in the variegated forms is interesting (compare 'Vittatum' and 'Variegatum'). Peter coxhead (talk) 14:16, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd imagine that there is no connection between paternal inheritance and the variegation behaviour, or would be surprised if there were. There could potentially be a mention of sectoral chimeras and apical meristems on this page. Nadiatalent (talk) 17:01, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Am I reading the article I posted above correctly? "The mode of plastid inheritance in Chlorophytum comosum has been studied for many years. Using sexual crosses between Chlorophytum elatum and C. comosum, Collins (1922) first observed the maternal inheritance of leaf variegation in these species. Extensive data indicated that a low rate of biparental plastid transmission occurs regularly, at about 2% to 8% (Collins, 1922)." It's not exceedingly clear, but does this mean the Collins (1922) study found biparental plastid inheritance through the data on variegation? Rkitko (talk) 18:43, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The wording here is very odd (e.g. saying "sexual crosses" implies there could be other kinds of crosses). It may be that the "extensive data" refers to data other than studies on the inheritance of leaf variegation. However, I think it would be necessary to look at the Collins paper to make sense of this. Peter coxhead (talk) 19:33, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Right, I don't have immediate access to it, but it's on order. Rkitko (talk) 19:45, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Oh, too late, perhaps. If you want to contact me through email (from my web page), I do have access. I think that "sexual crosses" was just unfortunate wording in the Liu et al. paper, where "outcrossing" might have worked better. The non-Mendelian, i.e., somatic (cytoplasmic), inheritance was a big deal in 1922. There is a summary of the crosses as follows: "(a) Seed carried on wholly green flowering stems produces green seedlings. (b) Seed carried on wholly white flowering stems produces seedlings devoid of chlorophyll and which subsequently die. (c) Seed borne on striped flowering stems gives green seedlings, white seedlings and seedlings showing variegation of irregular pattern." Nadiatalent (talk) 20:08, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

So this particular piece of work really doesn't have anything to do with paternal inheritance of plastids? It seems to be precisely as you would expect for maternal inheritance. Peter coxhead (talk) 13:04, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I didn't see such a thing (unless I misinterpreted some very subtle data in the counts that they made). The paper is quite long because they were concerned, for example, with how a white patch can sometimes become light green with age, and with how the cell layers grow over one another, changing the overall colour. Nadiatalent (talk) 17:01, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

More images
Hello, there are loads of images in Commons, why not add some flowers etc? A gallery, perhaps... 219.79.75.241 (talk) 04:56, 29 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Galleries are frowned on in Wikipedia (see WP:IG). I've added some images, which now fill up the right hand side of the article. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:01, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Can We Get More Info?
I am not a Wikipedia editor, just someone who feels this entry could use more info. I came to this article specifically for information regarding this plant's toxicity regarding cats. All over the internet there are claims that it has hallucinogenic properties for cats but I can't find any hard evidence to support this claim. There are even claims that spider plants contains chemicals similar to those found in opium. These claims seem wild so it would be nice for this article to either dispel these rampant rumors, or to source these claims and verify them as they really are all over the place. (And I have anecdotally witnessed my own cats be very attracted to and subsequently ingest spider plant materials as well. It seems to have an effect on them similar to catnip.)

OK, that's all I have to say. Thank you to anyone who reads and considers this. Anxiety and lack of understanding about plants, especially houseplants, seems to be a problem for the average person and I just think this could be a tiny bit of help for that. --Basil989 (talk) 21:09, 30 January 2019 (UTC)
 * OK, have you considered that these claims seem wild because they ARE wild? If you can point to any scientific evidence, I will be happy to add some text. Seems odd that one of the most popular houseplants in the world has these properties and nobody has studied it. Particularly as it has plantlets which can grow down to floor level, so cats would be tempted to play with it! Darorcilmir (talk) 05:36, 31 January 2019 (UTC)