Sansevieria IDs

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MikeT
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Sansevieria IDs

Post by MikeT »

I bought these 2 Sansevierias last year at Ikea, but have no idea of the species. Any ideas, please?
The first one, for scale, is in a 4¼" pot
Sans1.JPG
Sans1_.JPG
The second is in a 3½" pot
Sans2_.jpg
Sans2__.JPG
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by LHMBB »

I thnk the first one is "Fernwood Punk"
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by MikeT »

Thanks, Lee

Having that as a useful start, googling suggests that Fernwood is a parva x suffruticosa hybrid, but not clear whether the 'Punk' and other variations are legitimate names or selling labels. The same searching also suggested S. bacularis as a possibility for the other plant.

Anyone know where Colin is?
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by Al Laius »

Yes, the second one looks like S. bacularis. And the first does indeed seem to be a hybrid with S. parva in it.
MikeT wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:37 am Thanks, Lee

Having that as a useful start, googling suggests that Fernwood is a parva x suffruticosa hybrid, but not clear whether the 'Punk' and other variations are legitimate names or selling labels. The same searching also suggested S. bacularis as a possibility for the other plant.

Anyone know where Colin is?
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by ralphrmartin »

Colin is in Glasgow. :grin:

He'll probably get round to looking at the forum again in due course...
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by MikeT »

Thanks, Al

I'll get the Brother printer out.
ralphrmartin wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:21 pm Colin is in Glasgow.
Well thanks to Al's contribution, who needs Colin anyway? :wink:
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Re: Sansevieria IDs

Post by Davey246 »

The first seems to be Fernwood Mikado. It was claimed by Rogers Weld, who produced the named hybrid, to be parva x suffruiticosa but after his death the claimed parent plants were checked and one found to be misidentified, so actual parentage is unknown.
My plant here has flowered and offset, and is looking to make quite a large plant eventually – longest leaf around 75cm and still growing.
The second plant is often seen labelled either cylindrica, angolensis (a cylindica synonym) or bacularis. As I understand things, it probably isn’t any of them. I bought a clump of leaf cuttings some years back and it offsets by making growths of 2 or 3 leaves that erupt from green buds and has simple, tall, spikes of nocturnal off-white, scentless flowers. Cylindrica usually makes dichotomous fans of up to large numbers of leaves, and bacularis makes growth of one, occasionally two leaves from violet-tinged buds (buds sound similar to massoniana). That said, I have given up trying to work out what bacularis, singularis and sulcata are, or are not.
Sansevieria in cultivation are a mess in terms of names, made far more complicated by collectors in the Far East who have produced numerous hybrids that, along with true species, each get innumerable different names in the nursery trade.
Cylindrica as a name gets used with gay abandon – including on many plants with leaves that are (very) far from cylindrical (jumbled plants and labels at Ikea/garden centres?). Probably one of the few plants that actually is cylindrica is the one usually labelled as “Skyline” or S. (c.) patula. S. c. boncelliensis aka S. “Starfish” was originally named “Boncel” (reputedly Thai for dwarf, but not according to Google Translate, but it may be slang) and is thought to be a chance cylindrica x trifasciata hybrid.
The plants that are known as ehrengergii varieties – commonly labelled “Samurai” and “Banana” - are probably not ehrengergii, but are more likely to be two different species from Oman/Yemen. Ehrenbergii is dichotomous, as is “Banana”, but “Samurai” grows as rosettes. “Banana” also looks a lot like S. rorida.
Upright-leaved plants in trade labelled kirkii, often with cultivar names, frequently “Friends”, all seem to be parva. The only kirkii that seem to be commonly available in trade are “Copper (tone)” and “Silver-blue”, although both get numerous other names. What looks to be a silver-blue hybrid – at the simplest level it is very much greener than it ought to be - is out there, although it could be another, different, presumably unpublished, dwarf kirkii form/clone.
Another name that regularly appears is Koko. This refers to the botanic garden at/in Koko crater, Oahu, Hawaii. The gardens were involved in the 1950’s US efforts to produce hybrid plants for improved fibre production (similar to sisal - a common name for Sansevierias is bowstring hemp). Koko plants in trade/cultivation are believed to be (a) random hybrid(s).
A Belgian nurseryman who has set-up home and business in Thailand, who grows Sansevieria, has a website that gives a few useful pieces of information – the randomly variegated plants – often labelled “Canary” – have been treated with chemicals that destroy, or inhibit the production of, chlorophyll, which is why the plants eventually grow-out green. Some plants are also treated with dwarfing hormones – such as plants labelled as S. c. “Rhino (horn)”, which obviously do not grow true either.
Old but useful, Hermine Stover’s and Juan Chahinian’s books are available for download. The Sanseverix website (German) is also a mine of up-to-date information, although you need to donate to see more than a few photographs. He has recently loaded videos to YouTube of quite a few plants. The Brookside (Italy) website is also useful due to the large number of photo’s available of large numbers of species, sub-species etc. Also useful is Bob Smoley’s US website. (Only Bob Smoley will export plants/cuttings to the UK.)

Incidentally, over the years I have grown quite a few species from seed – they all look essentially the same until several leaves into growth, even if mature leaves are approximately cylindrical, and it is quite a bit faster than propagation from leaf cuttings – from seed to a plant of 4cm, or more, across within a year is easily achievable. The hassle is finding seed….
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