Species · genus Chlorophytum · Asparagaceae

Pongol Sword

Chlorophytum laxum R.Br.

Growth habit

perennial

Native range

Bangladesh, Borneo, Chad, China Southeast, Ethiopia, Hainan, India, Jawa, Malaya, Myanmar, Northern Territory, Oman, Queensland, Sri Lanka, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Western Australia, Yemen

Chlorophytum laxum — reference photo — Daderot · CC0

Cultivars of C. laxum

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under C. laxum yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A Slender Spider Cousin

Chlorophytum laxum is an evergreen, rhizomatous perennial in the Asparagaceae family, related to the familiar spider plant. It carries narrow, lance-shaped leaves and slender arching stems that lift up loose sprays of small, starry white flowers.

Source: RHS

A Wide Native Range

This species was first described by Robert Brown in 1810, and it is no narrow endemic. Its native range stretches from northeast tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula through India to western Malesia and northern Australia, where it grows chiefly in seasonally dry tropical settings.

Source: Kew

Foliage, Flowers, and a Variegated Form

The genus habit shows in this plant plainly: linear to lance-shaped leaves on a rhizomatous base, with wiry arching stems bearing loose racemes or panicles of small white flowers. A named selection, Chlorophytum laxum 'Bichetii', also sold as 'Variegatum', brings striped foliage to the same basic form.

Source: RHS

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 14 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

15–27 °C

Soil mix

Light, well-draining potting mix

Propagation

Division of clumps at repotting

Fertilizing

Diluted liquid feed monthly in the growing season

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Occasional small white flowers indoors

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Non-toxic to cats & dogs

Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) — ASPCA non-toxic; the genus carries no toxic principle. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Pongol Sword yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.