Hi MsDoll, I love to have Wandering Jew, solid green spider plant, and a strawberry begonia, I looked at your trade list and would also like to have Creeping Charlie, and Jade. I have 2 different variegated spider plants (they're pretty close to being ready to share... how can you tell for sure?) and other things on my trade list, take a look and let me know if you're interested in a larger trade. I'm new here too. We may be able to double each other's plant collection! YAY! Here is a link that might be useful: LaineyPlantGrower's Trade List

hi, i love spider plants. some people just dont get it because they arent very colorful and showy (my husband being one of those typed that dont get it) anyways, i used to have a nice collection of plants but then we had to vacate our home fairly quickly and i lost most of my plants in the move. im looking on here for anyone who would be willing to share some babies off their plants so that i could get back to collecting? im hoping for it to be possibly considered a gift from one plant lover to another because i dont have much to offer in return but if need be i will offer to crochet a plant hanger for you. ive just started making my own plant hangers, and i dont know how to do macrame yet but i can crochet and they are turning out pretty nice. i hope that i can start my collection back up, i live on a very limited budget because im a stay at home mom so i cant go out and buy what i want, and this would make my day to be able to have lots of plants again. thank you.

The 'Hawaiian Spider Plant' looks very much like yours (I have one myself). The variegation on the mother plant fades over time, while still putting out variegated 'babies'....then the variegation on the 'babies' fades, but returns when transplanted. I recently transplanted a 'baby' that was green, and it has grown into a nice sized plant that looks almost identical to yours. One of the leaves is 1-3/4" wide at one point. I agree with you that although there are simlarities in this plant and some dracaenas (Rikki, in particular..I have one of those, too) that the Dracaena leaves are much more rigid, and though it may be easily mistaken for D. Rikki in a photo, it's easy to tell the difference with the plant in front of you. The variations make this a really interesting plant! Unfortunately, I don't think it has yet been given a 'proper' botanical name to date....but I didn't research to find out. You'll find lots of information if you do a google search for 'Hawaiian Spider Plant'.

The rhizome contains genetic information that will duplicate the parent plant. when you take a leaf cutting, the whole reproductive process changes. Just one cell from either I, II, or III will begin the rooting process but that one cell only contains the genetic material coding for whichever layer it comes from. The rhizome contains all of the genetic information from the parent, instead of having to start from scratch at just one type of cell. many African Violets are this way, chimeras. You can reproduce the plant only if you have a full crown (with all the genetic information, including the mutation) but if you take a leaf and try to propagate a new plant, it will not be true to the parent and will lose some of that genetic coding along the way. The cells in the leaves are very simple. They are to do one thing, and one thing only. Now, the cells in the dormant buds contain a different type of cell, one with much more potential than just a leaf cell. imagine it as if the dormant buds are similar to human stem cells, they can grow into almost any type of organ or tissue. Humans can't regenerate limbs (or bodies) so that example has to stop there lol. But with starfish (sea stars!), they can grow a limb back, but if a limb is ripped off, unless it has part of that central core (body), then the arm cells don't have enough genetic information to create a new body. The difference is the TYPE of cell used in starting the plant, whether it's a "stem cell" that holds information for the whole plant or just a leaf cell that is specialized and only holds the genetic information for its layer of leaf cells. That's probably going to be really confusing. It was kind of all over the natural world lol. I love biology though, so I enjoy our conversations!