Mother in Law's Tongue Sansevieria trifasciata

The plain species of snake plant is the one for the darker rooms of a house. Its rigid leaves are deep green crossed with wavy bands of paler grey green, with no yellow edge, and with every part of the leaf working it copes with lower light than the variegated forms, so use it in a hallway, an office corner well back from the window or a bathroom with frosted glass.

Indoors it is close to indestructible as long as nobody drowns it, and an established clump keeps sending up new leaves around the rim until it fills the pot.

The one rule: let it dry out

Almost every dead mother in law's tongue was overwatered. Water only when the mix is dry most of the way down, which in a typical house works out at roughly fortnightly in summer and monthly or less through winter, and tip out any saucer still holding water an hour after a drink. A plant kept wet and cold goes soft at the base, the leaves fold over and the rhizome rots, and by the time you notice it is usually too late. Grow it in a free draining cactus and succulent mix in a pot with drainage holes. Terracotta helps twice over: it dries faster, and its weight stops a tall clump from toppling.

Light is flexible. In bright, indirect light it grows faster and makes firmer, more upright leaves, and it survives in shade where most indoor plants sulk, although growth slows to a crawl. That is what it has over the Laurentii Snake Plant, whose yellow margin needs a brighter room to stay crisp. At the other extreme, direct summer sun through a west window will still yellow its leaves. When a clump finally splits its pot, which can take several years, saw through the rhizome with a sharp knife in spring and replant the pieces at their old depth. A weak liquid feed in spring and again in midsummer covers its year.

Why it belongs in a pot

The same toughness makes it a problem outside. In frost free coastal gardens it creeps steadily outwards on underground stems. It is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, and Brisbane City Council lists it as Council Pest Vegetation. Keep it in a container on a shaded patio or indoors, and dispose of unwanted divisions in general waste, never on a compost heap or in bushland. In cooler districts it also collapses outdoors after a frost or a long, cold, wet spell.

The leaves contain saponins and are mildly toxic to cats and dogs if chewed, usually causing drooling, vomiting or an upset stomach, so put it where a curious pet cannot work on it. The low maintenance plants collection groups it with others that take the same neglect, and the guide indoor plants that actually survive explains why water and light, not feeding, decide how a plant fares inside.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $229.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to low water gardens.