How do you find flowers in February at Martha’s vineyards?
Other than some wild exceptions such as the witch hazel and snowdrop, you may need to go inside and discover livestock. The florist and greenhouse have many petals, but recently I have had my own beautiful flowers bloom on the windowsill. For the first time (or maybe I remember), my spider plant blossomed.
Some of you (particularly my friend Dave) may turn to the fact that everything outdoors goes indoors. But yes – we all need a bit of plant inspiration on these days, cold and windy days.
The spider plant is from tropical and southern Africa, but it has established itself as one of the most common and simple home plants. Chlorophytum comosum describes this species well and translates it into a green plant with trenches of hair. Also known as spiderlets, plants, or puppies, these clusters grow the seeds by eradicating themselves when they find the substrate and launching new plants.
Not surprisingly, a more common method of seed reproduction is possible, but unlikely to be found in this houseplant as it is pollinated by insects (hoping that the supply of the settlement is limited). However, the flowers of the spider plant appear as an appendage of the white plague on the long stems of the mother plant.
These flowers (which may be more than a few on one stem) bloom, bloom quickly, disappear quickly, and require long days and temperatures. It was probably the longer, south-facing window that tricked my plants into flowering. Or the plant may have matured and been tied to a pot, which also encourages blooming. Regardless of the reason, I was happy to see those delicate flowers.
It was first named in the scientific literature by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Samberg, but he was not the original observer of the plant. The Nguni people of the Bantu tribes of indigenous cow pastoralists in South Africa knew and used this plant for medicine and food. The roots are reportedly consumed and the leaves may be pigs, but both can cause stomach distress for beginners. Consumption is not recommended for people and pets today.
Samberg has found some notoriety beyond the naming of this common house plant. He was the apostle of Carl Linnae, and his trips to Africa and Japan were documented in his and others’ botany and medicine books. Samberg taught the Japanese to treat syphilis, but they taught him acupuncture – the trade of proper skills. He was praised as the father of South African botany and became a pioneer in Western medicine in Japan.
His fame may have faded, but Spider Plant’s popularity remains undeterred. Its notorious is that it caused a recent crash after the plant identified it as an air purifier for the plant. The report showed that spider plants can clean indoor air by absorbing chemicals such as formaldehyde, xylene, benzene and carbon monoxide. Truth, further research has revealed that over 70 plants are needed to manage the absorption of these compounds that arise from the typical furniture and contents of a 1,500-square-foot home.
The flowers of my spider plant have already disappeared, but the length of sunlight continues to increase, planting seeds of hope in the coming spring.
Susan Bellingkampi is the director of Felix Neck Wildlife Reserve in Edgartown and is the author of Martha’s Vineyards.
