[SANS] Article by Marjorie Russell: Introduction

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• Subject: [SANS] Article by Marjorie Russell: Introduction
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• Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 21:14:02 +1300

Sansevieria is a xerophytic genus. It has fibrous hard-textured leaves,
strap-shaped cylindrical or chanelled. These may be red-edged or marked
with transverse grey bands. The flowers are solitary or in clusters and are
usually whitish to greenish in colour and sometimes tinted with purple or
pink. they become fully opened early in the evening. Reproduction is by
strong underground stems.

Sansevieria was named in 1774 for an Italian patron of horticulture Raimond
di Sangro, Prince of Sanseviero, who was born in Naples in 1710. The genus
Sansevieria was established by Thunberg in 1794 in his Prodromus Flora
Capensis where two species were described. In 1862 Thomas Baines sketched a
view of the Eastern side (the Zambian side) of the Victorian Falls. He
completed the painting in September 1863 and a dominant feature of the
foreground are aloes with a species of Sansevieria. In 1898 Sir Harry
Johnston KBE, assisted by Mr Thiselton Dyer CMG, Director of the Royal
Gardens, Kew, in hos book on British Central Africa (now Malawi) wrote the
following description:

        "The Sansevieria plants should be classed amongst the grotesque if they
did lead us by a natural transition to the useful. They are absurd things,
just segments of crude vegetation which might be stalks, but which are, I
suppose, leaves that come up out of the ground anyhow. One triangular leaf
may be standing alone, although there may be a Stonehenge clump of four or
five others growing stiffly together and yet having as little connection
with each other as possible. It is very rare to see these things in flower.
When they do flower the blossom comes out at the side of the leaf, which
makes you think that the leaf after all is a stalk. Ordinarly they look as
though they had forgotten where they came from and what they were doing and
whether or not they should or should not have leaves or stalks or flowers.
They are fleshy but with limp leathery edges."

[Note for non-Brit or Commonwealth readers: KBE = Knight of the British
Empire. CMG = Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. Quaint,
isn't it!]

Frances Verrity

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