This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: [SANS] For the record

Dear Juan,

You are absolutely correct. You did not say that in the forum. My mistake.
I was paraphrasing your book review that appeared in the Sansevieria
Journal.

Cereusly Steve

********************

Chahinian, B.J. (1996) The Sansevieria Journal 5 (1): 17.

"BOOK REVIEW
Flora of Somalia, Vol.IV, Mats Thulin, editor, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
1995. Just off the press, the second volume published - they do not appear
in order - shows three pages of text and one line drawing of Sansevieria.
The author presents a key to seven species: S.powellii, S.forskaoliana,
S.phillipsiae, S.eilensis, S.ehrenbergii, S.fischeri and S.volkensii. He
places S.rorida as a synonym of S.ehrembergii, S.hargeisana as a synonym of
S.phillipsiae and suggests a strong relationship of S.gracilis with
S.phillipsiae, S.intermedia as a synonym of S.volkensii, S.elliptica and
S.abyssinica var. sublaevigata as synonyms of S.forskaoliana. This lumping
may have been necessary to get the work done but it appears a little
excessive. He claims S.ehrenbergii to have more or less no stem but shows a
stem in the drawing presented.This may be due to local growing conditions.
S.aff. arborescens - see S.sp. 'Lav. 23154' Sans. Jour. Vol. 4, p. 75 - a
very common plant near the east coast, is conspicuously absent, on the
other hand, S.powellii is presented, which does not appear to belong to
Somalia. S.fischeri's inflorescence is indicated as having a spike-like or
head-like racemes, which appears to be hardly possible. No habitat is given
for this species. If one looks at herbarium specimens, the older the
better, one can understand how S.powellii may be confused with S. aff.
arborescens and even even with S. arborescens, let alone confusing
S.robusta with S.ehrenbergii. The need and advantage of working with field
as well as with cultivated material becomes quite clear.

This work by Dr. Thulin is very valuable in that it presents a first
approach to Sansevieria in Somalia."

********************

The drawing cited as S.ehrenbergii (fig. 18) is stated to be modified from
Agnew, A.D.Q. (1974) UPLAND KENYA WILD FLOWERS, fig. on page 723 and is
actually of S.robusta according to Chahinian, B.J. (1993) SANSEVIERIA
EHRENBERGII & SANSEVIERIA ROBUSTA. The Sansevieria Journal 2 (1): 7-9, 1
fig.

********************

Species reported from Somalia by Thulin (1995) and comments on their
status.

1. Sansevieria powellii sensu Thulin is probably Sans. sp. aff.
arborescens, an unnamed species.

2. Sansevieria ehrenbergii Schewinfurth  (includes Sans. rorida  (Lanza)
N.E. Brown)

3. Sansevieria phillipsiae N.E. Brown (includes Sans. hargeisana Chahinian)

4. Sansevieria fischeri sensu Thulin is probably Sans. bacularis Pfennig
(nom. nud.) (Sans. sulcata hort. not Bojer)

5. Sansevieria volkensii Guerke (Sans. intermedia N.E. Brown and Sans.
polyrhitis (Chiovenda) Cufodontis are listed as synonyms.)

6. Sansevieria eilensis Chahinian

7. Sansevieria forskaoliana sensu Thulin is Sans. elliptica (Chiovenda)
Cufodontis, at least in part.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
•Subject: For the record
•From: Juan Chahinian <Chahinian@AOL.COM>
•Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 09:36:47 EDT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi you all,

I am still reading my old mail. I have to make this clear for the record. I
found the following that Stephen Jankalski said:

One cannot take Mats Thulin's treatment of Sansevieria for the Flora of
Somalia seriously. It was a rush job and not based on field work. It is a
seriously flawed mess as Juan has pointed out previously in this forum. The
species list is rife with lumping of different species and
misidentifications. Thulin missed an opportunity to name a few new species
for Somalia.
---------
For the record: I never said that Dr. Thulin's work is a flawed mess.
Dr. Mats Thulin is a full fledged Swedish botanist who has decided to group
sansevierias of Somalia, in my opinion, in a restrictive number of species.

He HAS been several times to the field in Somalia and he HAS studied
herbarium specimens. As a matter of fact, he has annotated the specimens in
Florence, lumping all  Sansevieria forskaolianas. I have met him and his
wife,  have talked about it, and he has even sent me a field collected
plant
from Somalia.

Thulin missed Sansevieria eilensis because, apparently, it grows in a very
restrictive area. The plant was not found on the last trip to Somalia, and
as
far as I am concerned it is definitely an endangered species.

I have great respect for professional people, including Dr. Thulin, ( I am
a
professional California registered Civil and Structural Engineer) and I do
not appreciate being misquoted.

Cheers to all

Juan
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index