Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Chlorophytum comosum, usually called spider plant or common spider plant due to its spider-like look, also known as spider ivy, airplane plant, [2] ribbon plant (a name it shares with Dracaena sanderiana), [3] and hen and chickens, [4] is a species of evergreen perennial flowering plant of the family Asparagaceae.
Chlorophytum (/ ˌ k l ɒr ə ˈ f aɪ t əm, ˌ k l ɔː-,-r oʊ-/, [3] [4]), sometimes colloquially referred to as the spider plants, is a genus of almost 200 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the century plant subfamily within the asparagus family. [5] The plants are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa ...
It spreads through underground stems to form large colonies. The plant can grow 1.5-3 feet tall and 1-1.5 feet wide. Stems of this species are commonly clumped but may be solitary. They can be smooth or have scattered, short hairs and usually grow unbranched. Each stem has 2-5 leaves attached by a leaf sheath that is one to three centimeters long.
The spiny orb-weaving spiders in the genera Gasteracantha and Micrathena look like plant seeds or thorns hanging in their orb-webs. Some species of Gasteracantha have very long, horn-like spines protruding from their abdomens. One feature of the webs of some orb-weavers is the stabilimentum, a crisscross band of silk through the center of the web.
As plant and insect life diversified so also did the spider's use of silk. Spiders with spinnerets at the end of the abdomen (Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae) appeared more than , presumably promoting the development of more elaborate sheet and maze webs for prey capture both on ground and foliage, as well as the development of the safety dragline.
The estimated annual production of tasar silk is 130 tonnes. Production of other types of silk exceeds 10 000 tonnes (Gupta 1994). [9] In 2015, the complete sequence and the protein structure of Muga Silk Fibroin was analyzed and published. [10] The eri silk worm from India feeds on the leaves of the castor plant.
The spider then collects and stores the prey in its web. The difference in C. citricola's web silk stems from physiological variations in its spinning apparatuses, as compared to other closely related species. Its webs are non-adhesive and do not require daily respinning. This spider is one of the few species to exhibit a variable level of ...
The toughest known spider silk is produced by the species Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini): "The toughness of forcibly silked fibers averages 350 MJ/m 3, with some samples reaching 520 MJ/m 3. Thus, C. darwini silk is more than twice as tough as any previously described silk and over 10 times tougher than Kevlar". [30]