Description
Chlorophytum comosum grows to about 60 centimetres (24 in) high. It has fleshy, tuberous roots, about 5–10 centimetres (2–4 in) long. The long narrow leaves reach a length of 20–45 centimetres (8–18 in) and are around 6–25 millimetres (0.2–1.0 in) wide.
Flowers are produced in a long branched inflorescence, which can reach a length of up to 75 centimetres (30 in) and eventually bends downwards. Flowers initially occur in clusters of 1–6 at intervals along the stem (scape) of the inflorescence. Each cluster is at the base of a bract, which ranges from 2–8 centimetres (0.8–3.1 in) in length, becoming smaller towards the end of the inflorescence. Most of the flowers which are produced initially die off, so that the inflorescences are relatively sparsely flowered.
Individual flowers are greenish-white, borne on stalks (pedicels) some 4–8 millimetres (0.2–0.3 in) long. Each flower has six three-veined tepals which are 6–9 millimetres (0.2–0.4 in) long, slightly hooded or boat-shaped at their tips. The stamens consist of a pollen-producing anther about 3.5 millimetres (0.1 in) long with a filament about the same length or slightly longer. The central style is 3–8 millimetres (0.1–0.3 in) long. Seeds are produced in a capsule 3–8 millimetres (0.1–0.3 in) long on stalks (pedicels) which lengthen to up to 12 millimetres (0.5 in).
The inflorescences carry plantlets at the tips of their branches. The stems (scapes) of the inflorescence are called "stolons" in some sources, but this term is more correctly used for stems which do not bear flowers, and have roots at the nodes.
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“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)