Snake Plants | Get to Know this Easy to Grow Indoor Plant

What Are Snake Plants? 

While there are many different types of snake plants they all hail from the sansevieria family of plants. You will have seen them with their long pointed variegated leaves and may know them by the alternative name, Mother in Law’s Tongue.

Snake plants are universally attractive and vary greatly in the patterning and the shade of green on the leaves.

These plants have been popular as houseplants for many years now and we’ll shortly talk about why that is, but first we’ll have a quick look at some of the different types of sansevieria you can grow easily in your home.

The most recognisable and popular of the snake plants is Sansevieria Laurentii, commonly known as the variegated snake plant. This is the one with wider, dark green leaves that are edged in yellow.

Considered very easy to grow, this example will grow to as tall as four foot if allowed and makes for a wonderful corner plant in any room.

Also popular is Sansevieria Masoniana,  a snake plant variety hailing from Central Africa with very broad mottled green leaves that can grow to four foot long.

This example is known as Shark’s Fin because of the shape of the leaves resembling the classic shark fin shape. Once again, surprisingly easy to grow and a wonderful addition to a room, this is one that will thrive in most indoor situations.

Sansevieria Gracilis is one of the smaller varieties with its tubular green leaves reaching just 18 inches maximum. However, it is one of the easiest to get to flower and produces lovely clusters of green and white blooms late in the year – usually at the end of fall – and is another that is easy to grow.

When talking about snake plants, we can't forget about Sansevieria Moonshine. To know more about this variety, check out our Sansevieria Moonshine growing guide. 

Benefits of Snake Plants at Home

There is plenty of evidence that like many houseplants, growing snake plants can aid your health in a number of ways. Before we get onto the biology of the plant, consider this: growing plants is therapeutic, and tending plants and gardening is known to be beneficial to mental health.

Also read: 10 Best Plants To Grow For Mental Health

There’s a lot of satisfaction to be gained from growing a smaller plant, with all the tending it needs, to become a large and beautiful adult example that adorns your living room or bedroom. 

This type of plant also converts carbon dioxide into oxygen, especially at night. Although it is only doing so fractionally, it is effectively cleaning the air as you sleep, which is why many people have a few snake plants in their bedroom.

Also see: 25 Plants That Help You Sleep Better Than Ever

They can also absorb other pollutants and there is some evidence they help rid the air of carcinogens. A further benefit of air-cleaning plants such as snake plants is that they keep the air rid of substances that can aggravate allergies. 

They filter in a minute way so that the air we breathe is cleaner, and they do so constantly. Thus, there are many medicinal benefits to growing snake plants and similar species that recycle the carbon dioxide in a room.

Other reasons for growing snake plants include the aforementioned mental health benefits and the general satisfaction in having plants in the home, as well as them being easy to grow, not to fussy about where they are grown, and very attractive with many different available species.

Now that we know what we’re talking about, let’s have some useful tips that will help you grow the most beautiful snake plants in your home, and get the best out of these affordable plants.

Tips for Growing Snake Plants

You can find many tips on growing snake plants at a variety of websites and other online sources and we recommend you check them out, but for now here are a few snake plants care tips that we’ve put together for you:

• Snake plants like a bright spot but not one with too much direct sunlight. They can survive in spots with less light but keep an eye on them for signs mentioned below.
• Leaves dropping to the sides indicate that the plant is not getting enough light so you may want to move it to a different location.
• You do not need to water snake plants often, just whenever the soil in their pot becomes dry. Make sure you let the excess water drain away as if it remains in the soil the root may rot.
• Yellowing leaves on a snake plant indicate a plant that is getting too much water, while dry and crinkling leaves indicate not enough.
• Take great care not to damage leaf tips of snake plants as this will stop them from growing.

Looking for more indoor plants to grow? If you have heard about Dieffenbachia then you're in luck, we have a complete growing guide for Dieffenbachia or commonly known as Dumb cane plant.