Why Do Spider Plants Have Thick, White Roots?

Why Do Spider Plants Have Thick, White Roots?

Spider plants are supremely easygoing houseplants – requiring little more than just regular watering approximately once a week, and repotting every year or two.

They tend to be such fuss-free indoor companions, in fact, that you might feel a sudden sense of shock when you look in your specimen’s pot and notice thick white protuberances in the potting soil. Rest assured – all is well in houseplant land.

Those thick white things you’re seeing are just the swollen roots of your houseplant – and yes, they are supposed to look like that!

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You may have observed these fleshy, white growths while repotting your houseplant, or perhaps you noticed them emerging from the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot, or coming out of the top of the growing medium.

While they look very different from the underground parts of many other houseplants, they are actually just tuberous roots.

However, I have to say that calling them “just roots” really doesn’t do them justice.

Also known as “spider ivy,” “airplane plant,” “St. Bernard’s lily,” or “ribbon plant,” these tubers are part of what makes Chlorophytum comosumone of the easiest houseplants to care for!

Would you like to learn more about this part of your plant’s anatomy?

Of course you would!

Keep reading and you’ll get to know the workings of your houseplant’s underground world, so to speak.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

We’re going to get up close and personal with the subterranean anatomical features of your spider plant.

But before we get started, if you want complete guidance to caring for these houseplants, be sure to read our