Image source: Pinterest
by Jessica Hill
I was buying ice cream with my mum when I noticed a bunch of tall, wavy plants growing in the foyer of an office block. “Wow, look at them,” I said. She quickly told me their name. “They’re called Mother in Law’s Tongue,” she replied, chuckling to herself. Of course the joke was lost on ten year old me, but I always remembered the plant’s name.
The Mother in Law’s Tongue, or Snake Plant, also convinced me to move into my apartment. When I entered the foyer I was greeted by a dense cluster of the tallest Snake Plants I had ever seen and I immediately knew this was the place for me.
The Snake plant has an almost zebra like banding stretching horizontally across each leaf stem and a beautiful, yellow stripe runs up the stem of the variegated variety.
Every time I tell you guys about a different plant, I claim each one is easy to care for (dear ‘black thumbs’, the majority of plants really are!) but the Snake Plant is pretty much impossible to kill. It tolerates extremely low light levels and it only needs watering every month. I pulled a leaf stem from a roadside Snake Plant one night, and when I popped it in some water six months later, it quickly rooted.
Not only is the Snake Plant easy to care for, its super effective at cleaning the air. A NASA study discovered it removes four out of the five most common air-borne toxins found in in your home. It can also produce oxygen at night while removing carbon dioxide from the air at the same time.
Grab a Snake plant, get your mother in law over and show her the new addition to your home. #itsplantporn.
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Jessica Hill is a freelance journalist who is interested in the relationship between plants and people. Follow her on Instagram @plantsunknown.
