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Sansevieria fasciata

Hey all Sanseveriaphiles,

Kirk's inquiry about the status of Sansevieria fasciata has led me to look
further into the matter. There are only three citations of illustrations
for Sansevieria fasciata.

The first illustration in the original publication by Gerome & Labroy
(1903, fig. 3) shows only cross-sections of the upper and lower part of the
leaf. They based their observations on living plants grown by them in
Paris.

N.E. Brown (1915) provided a full description of this little known species
based on a clone of the type plant grown at Kew. Unfortunately the flowers
remained unknown.

The second illustration in Poupion (1915, fig. 175) of a plant grown in
France agrees very well with Brown's description of Sans.fasciata. The
plant has the appearance of a short growing cultivar of Sans.trifasciata
and is somewhat intermediate in appearance between the cultivars  'Robusta'
and 'Manda's Dwarf' but the leaves appear to be more spreading in the upper
half much like 'Longitudinal Stripes'.

I'm not implying that Sans.fasciata is actually a Sans.trifasciata cultivar
or visa versa because the flowers of the former are still unreported. It
does suggest that the natural range of variation of these species in the
Congo (Zaire) and Nigeria deserves closer study.

I should point out that the other two species in Poupion's article are
misidentified. His fig. 173 as Sans.zeylanica is actually Sans.aethiopica
and his fig. 174 as Sans.guineensis is typical Sans.trifasciata. Those were
the common misidentifications for those species in those days.

The third illustration in Gartenflora 84: 56, fig. (1935) is of a plant in
flower. However, it does not agree at all with the original description
because the leaves are widely spreading and only faintly banded on the
back. This plant in the photo looks more like Sansevieria senegambica Baker
to me.

The plant illustrated in Morgenstern (1979, fig. 108) as Sansevieria
trifasciata futura is a perfect match for the plant in fig. 175 in Poupion
(1915). On the other hand, his fig. 109 under the same name is the genuine
Sans.trifasciata 'Futura' and his fig. 30 as Sans.fasciata appears to be a
form of Sans.hyacinthoides.

So once again, after looking further, there are more questions than
answers.

References

Brown, N.E. (1915) Sansevieria. A Monograph of All Known Species. Kew
Bulletin 1915 (5): 185-261, 23 figs., 2 pl.

Chahinian, B.J. (1986) THE SANSEVIERIA TRIFASCIATA VARIETIES. Trans Terra
Publishing. Reseda, California.

Gerome, J. & Labroy, O. (1903) Sur La Collection De Sansevieria Des Serres
Du Museum; Tableau Synoptique Des Especes Et Notes Sur Leur Multiplication.
Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 9: 167-177. (English translation in The
Sansevieria Journal 1 (4): 59-66 (1992)) (Copied in E. de Wildeman (1903)
Notice sur des Plantes Utiles ou Interessantes de la Flora du Congo
(English translation in The Sansevieria Journal 3 (3): 70-86 (1994)))

Morgenstern, K.D. (1979) SANSEVIERIAS. Kempten.

Poupion, J. (1915) LES SANSEVIERES. Revue Horticole 87: 602-605, figs.
173-175.

Cereusly Steve

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
•Subject: Re: [SANS] S.sp.'Masai'
•From: Stephen M Jankalski
•Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:05:10 -0400
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Kirk,

Sansevieria fasciata Cornu ex Gerome & Labroy (1903) from the Congo (Zaire)
is indeed a valid name but it is not the same as Sansevieria 'Masai'. The
original and N.E. Brown's description of Sans.fasciata state that it has a
green, not a prominent reddish, leaf margin.

N.E. Brown does say that the leaf margin of Sans.fasciata will eventually
become very narrowly whitish or reddish with age but that is also true for
Sans.trifasciata and Sans.parva, for that matter.

I wonder if the original Sans.fasciata is still growing along roadsides
near Nassau in the Bahamas as Brown says? Anyone want to take a field trip?

So far we have:

Sansevieria 'Masai'
syn. Sansevieria massae sensu Morgenstern, Sansevierias 52, pl. 59 (1979)
not (Chiovenda) Cufodontis (1971)
       Sansevieria fasciata hort. not Cornu ex Gerome & Labroy (1903)
       Sansevieria aubrytiana hort. not Carriere (1861)

BTW, the genuine Sansevieria aubrytiana Carriere is also in cultivation.

Cereusly Steve

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
•Subject: Re: [SANS] S.sp.'Masai'
•From: Kirk Pamper
•Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 02:06:55 EDT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just to add to the fray, Sans. 'Masai' is identical to one I have labeled
Sans. fasciata.  It matches Brown's description of S. fasciata Cornu ex
Gerome and Laboy.

The question now is:  is Sans. fasciata still a valid name?

Travelling a lot now, so....

Sporadically,
Kirk
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