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Dear Sansevieria enthusiasts

Dear Sansevieria enthusiasts,

I have been receiving posts from the Sansevieria group for some time and
just wanted to try to stir some life into it to get you all back to talking
about Sansevierias again.

I have a few observations and questions to share with you all, if I may.

I have come across the description of a little known Sansevieria species
described in the literature. Below is the description as it originally
appeared.  My additions appear in brackets ([ ]).

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"Sansevieria livingstoniae [Rendle, Journal of Botany (London) 70: 89
(1932)] Herba erecta glabra circa 2-pedalis, caule brevi, foliis longis
suberectis anguste cylindricis vix 1 cm. diam., lineis duobus
longitudinalibus excavatis, margine in sectione transversa undata; spica
cylindrica densiflora 1.5 dm. Longa, floribus ad quemque nodum 4-6,
pedicellis 5-6 mm. long. Paullo infra medium articulatus; perianthii tubo
cylindrico 1 cm. longo, lobis 1.3 cm. long. 1.25 lat.

Hab. [Zimbabwe] Victoria Falls, Livingstone Island; in the wood behind the
Falls; [Rendle] no.374 [(K)]; in fl. Aug. 6.

Characterised by its long narrow cylindrical leaves, the smooth surface of
which is broken by shallow longitudinal furrows, which are discontinuous,
and by two very narrow depressions, which appear as continuous lines
running down the leaf. The flowers are creamy white.

I am unable to match this plant with any of the species included in Mr. N.
E. Brown's monograph in the 'Kew Bulletin' (1915). It approaches
S.pearsonii N.E. Br., but is distinguished by the leaf-characters. It is
probably the S. cylindrica Bojer of Eyles's list [Trans. Royal Soc. S. Afr.
5 (4): 325 (1916)], but, as Mr. Brown has shown, this is a distinct
Madagascar species and has not hitherto been found in East Africa."

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It appears that the species was named for Livingstone Island, which, in
turn, was named for Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873), who discovered the
Victoria Falls in 1855.

Beyond the original description of this species, it appears to have been
ignored in the literature. Few Sansevieria species have been reported from
Zimbabwe. According to Russell (1982), the species occurring in the country
are: 1. S.deserti N.E. Brown, 2. S.aethiopica Thunberg (S.scabrifolia
Dinter), 3. S.conspicua N.E. Brown and 4. S.stuckyi Godefroy-Lebeuf. (The
report of S.stuckyi is most likely a misidentification of Sansevieria
hallii Chahinian (Sansevieria Journ. 5 (1): 7-10, 4 figs. (1996)). In her
article, Russell (1982) includes a photo of a painting by Thomas Baines
made August 2, 1862, showing a cylindrical leafed Sanseviera growing at the
base of Victoria Falls. No doubt the same plant as described by Rendle.

Rendle was influenced by the much too narrow species definitions of N.E.
Brown. His new species appears to be no more than a redescription of
S.deserti N.E. Br., which is widespread in Zimbabwe. Chahinian (1993) found
S.deserti to be the only species growing in the immediate vicinity of the
Victoria Falls. All the collections cited by Eyles (1916) were also from
Victoria Falls. An account of Sansevieria deserti as found in cultivation
was given by Waidhofer (1996).

Rendle mistakenly believed the Angolan S.cylindrica Bojer was from
Madagascar. He undoubtedly confused it with the allied S.canaliculata
Carriere (S.sulcata Bojer) which does occur there.

The name Sansevieria deserti has been sunken into synonymy of the earlier
S.pearsonii N.E. Brown by Obermeyer (1992) and Van Jaarsveld (1994).
Chahinian (1993) stated S.rhodesiana N.E. Brown is also synonymous.
S.quarrei De Wildeman described from Zaire is a further synonym. The
synonymy for this widespread species so far would be:

Sansevieria pearsonii N.E. Brown, Kew Bulletin 1911: 97 (1911), 1915 (5):
36-37, fig. 9 (1915); Obermeyer, Flora of South Africa 5: 8-9, fig. 2.3
(1992)
Syn. Sansevieria desertii N.E. Brown, Kew Bulletin 1915 (5): 28-29 (1915);
Verdoorn, Fl. Pl. Afr. 21: pl. 806 (1941)
        Sansevieria rhodesiana N.E. Brown, Kew Bulletin 1915 (5): 32-34,
fig. 7 (1915)
        Sansevieria livingstoniae Rendle, Journal of Botany (London) 70: 89
(1932)
        Sansevieria quarrei De Wildeman in De Wildeman & Staner, Contrib.
Fl. Katanga, suppl. 4: 4-5 (1932)
        Sansevieria cylindrica sensu Eyles, Trans. Royal Soc. S. Afr. 5
(4): 325 (1916) not Bojer (1837)
        Sansevieria spp. (cf. S.sulcata Bojer) in Eyles, Trans. Royal Soc.
S. Afr. 5 (4): 325 (1916)
Reported from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Zaire and Zimbabwe.

References

Brown, N.E. (1915) Sansevieria. A Monograph of All Known Species. Kew
Bulletin 1915 (5): 1-81, 23 figs.

Chahinian, B.J. (1993) Sansevieria touring Zimbabwe. Excelsa 16: 35-45, 10
figs. (reprinted  as Zimbabwe for Sansevieria in Sansevieria Journal 3 (3):
65-67 (1994), 4 (1): 19-23 (1995), 4 (2): 59-64 (1995), 5 (1): 18-24
(1996))

Eyles, F. (1916) A record of plants collected in Southern Rhodesia. Trans.
Royal Soc. S. Afr. 5 (4): 273-564.

Hargreaves , B.J. (1975) Succulents of Chitipa - the muddy place. Cact. &
Succ. Journ. Amer. 47 (supplement): 86-103, 65 figs.

Obermeyer, A.A. (1992) Dracaenaceae in Leistner, O.A. (ed.), Flora of South
Africa 5: 1-9, figs. 1-2.

Rossovich, M. (1992) Sansevieria patens. Cact. & Succ. Journ. Amer. 64 (5):
232, 234, 2 figs.

Russell, M (1982) Sansevieria. Excelsa 10: 112-117, 4 figs.

Thiede, J. (1993) Notes on the Sansevieria species of Malawi. The
Sansevieria Journal 2 (2): 27-34; 2 (3): 51-52, 6 figs.

Van Jaarsveld, E. (1987) The Succulent riches of South Africa and Namibia.
Aloe 24 (3-4): 45-92, illus. (Dracaenaceae, p. 86, 3 figs.)

Van Jaarsveld, E. (1994) The Sansevieria species of South Africa and
Namibia. Aloe 31 (1): 11-15, 10 figs.

Waidhofer, A. (1996) Sansevieria deserti (Agavaceae). Cact. & Succ. Journ.
Amer. 68 (1): 9-11, 3 figs.

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Cereusly, Steve Jankalski
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