Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum), a familiar house plant that spreads adventitiously in urban environments and natural areas when irresponsibly discarded.
Originating in tropical and southern Africa, Spider Plant spreads here primarily by the production of plantlets from its flower spikes. Online records suggest that the first recorded observation of the species in a naturalised condition in Victoria took place in East Gippsland in 1976, reflecting perhaps its greater availability and promotion as a pot plant for indoor and patio spaces in the 1960s (and the unavoidable wave of discarded plants entering the environment in the years following). It can also become a problematic local weed within the smaller urban scales of the house lot or residential block, where its uncareful planting and determined regeneration along cracks may produce an ongoing challenge to maintenance and order.
These plants are growing in a patch above the Barkers Road cuttings in Kew, beyond a fence in a location that is effectively unmanaged (thanks to the need for fall protection and vertical access arrangements). In this location, the plants appear fully adventitious and unlikely to have been intentionally located here.
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Search for information about Chlorophytum comosum in the Flora of Victoria
View information and occurrences of Chlorophytum comosum on the Atlas of Living Australia