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Dracula & the Sansevieria cult

Dracula and the Sansevieria cult

It was a dark and stormy night…

He was known as Dracula (son of the dragon), Vlad the Impaler, for he
impaled his enemies on spikes by the thousands.  He was rumored to have
dined on human flesh and to have drank human blood. He was both beloved by
his subjects and feared by his enemies. When they opened his coffin it was
found to be empty. He is rumored to be one of the undead and to live
forever wandering the earth.

That has nothing to do with us, or does it?

But consider this…….

Sansevierias are among the easiest of houseplants, surviving neglect and
often appearing to be cheating death. In many a home, plants are seen
lurking in some dark corner, growing under less than ideal conditions that
would kill most other house plant.

With the spine tipped leaves of S.cylindrica, S.pearsonii, S.suffruticosa
and others, it is obvious they too are impalers.

While maturing , the fruit of Sansevierias wither away, exposing the
sanguine colored fleshy seeds.

Snssevierias have highly fragrant nocturnal flowers. They are truly
children of the night.

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On a more serious note……..

There has been a long association between Sansevieria and Dracaena.

Dracaena draco L. is the  "Dragon Blood Tree" of the Canary islands. Other
closely allied species are found in eastern Africa (D.ombet Kotschy
(including D.schizantha Baker), D.ellenbeckiana Engler, D.rhabdophylla
Chiovenda, etc.), the Arabian peninsula (D.serrulata Baker), the island of
Socotra (D.cinnabari I.B. Balfour), Thailand (D.yuccaefolia Ridley) and
even the New World tropics (D.americana Donnell-Smith & D.cubensis
Marie-Victorin). Most of these are known to produce a reddish resin that
was once used for embalming the dead. The genus also includes the many
species once placed in Pleomele Salisbury.  The genus Pleomele, when first
described was based on two species. One (the type) is now Dracaena fragrans
(L.) Ker Gawler and the other is now Sansevieria hyacinthoides (L.) Druce.

The family Dracaenaceae, a segregate from the once all-encompassing
Liliaceae and more recently the broadly defined family Agavaceae by John
Hutchinson (1934, 1959, 1973). Recent studies by Dahlgren, Clifford & Yeo
(1985) have resulted in the liliaceous families being defined as much
smaller more homogenous families. Many of these families are actually old
ones, predating the plant family concepts of Bentham & Hooker (1883), which
have been taught in schools and has been traditionally ingrained into
generations of student's minds as the only accepted classification. One of
the reinstated families, Dracaenaceae, consists of only Dracaena and
Sansevieria.

There has been some talk that the two genera may eventually be united (as
Dracaena), however:

The two genera have been distinguished on the basis of growth habit but it
is now known both genera include both erect stemmed shrubs and rhizomatous
perennials. Dracaena are predominately erect stemmed shrubs but a few
species, such as D.phrynioides Hooker, D.praetermissa Bos and D.scabra Bos,
are rhizomatous perennials. Sansevieria are predominantly rhizomatous
perennials but a few species, such as S.arborescens Cornu and S.powellii
N.E. Brown, are erect stemmed shrubs.

There are significant differences in the fruit.

In Dracaena Vandelli ex Linnaeus (including Pleomele Salisbury) the mature
fruit is a red to orange berry, containing 1-3 brown seeds.

However, in Sansevieria Thunberg the fruit withers away early in seed
development, exposing the 1-3 seeds which are covered by a fleshy red to
orange coat (Sarcotesta). Gymnospermous fruit are rare in Monocotyledons
but may be found in family Ophiopogonaceae (Ophiopogon, Liriope &
Peliosanthes), and some Amaryllidaceae, such as Hymenocallis. Some authors
have described the fruit of Sansevieria as being a berry but, from personal
experience, I have seen otherwise.

There is also said to be significant differences in the pollen structure.

Bentham, G. & Hooker, J.D. (1883) GENERA PLANTARUM. volume 3.

Bos, J.J. (1984) DRACAENA IN WEST AFRICA. Agricultural University
Wageningen, The Netherlands. (Belmontia (n.s.) 17: 1-126 (1985))

Brown, N.E. (1914) NOTES ON THE GENERA CORDYLINE, DRACAENA, PLEOMELE,
SANSEVIERIA AND TAETSIA. Kew Bulletin 1914: 273-279.

Dahlgren, R.M.T.; Clifford, H.T. & Yeo, P.F. (1985) THE FAMILIES OF THE
MONOCOTYLEDONS. Springer-Verlag, 520pp.

Hutchinson, J. (1934) THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS, Volume 2.
Monocotyledons.  Macmillan, London.

Hutchinson, J. (1959) THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS, Volume 2.
Monocotyledons. (2nd. ed.) Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Hutchinson, J. (1973) THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS (3rd. ed.) Clarendon
Press, Oxford.

Nakai, T. (1936) LILIACEOUS PLANTS WITH EXPOSED SEEDS. Journal of Japanese
Botany 12 (3): 773-783.

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Trick or treat?

The truth is (way) out there.

(not so) Cereusly, Steve


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