Friday, February 24, 2017

Sansevieria in bloom

Sansevieria are pretty common houseplants, office plants, or "mall plants" as I sometimes say.  As with many other plants that grow well in these conditions, there are a few species or varieties that have been propagated far and wide and are most commonly seen, while the genera themselves are much larger.

A few years ago I got a Sansevieria from my friend, Russ.  He had it labeled "Sansevieria sp. Chahinian 549" at the time.  It was the collection number of a botanist by the name of Juan Chahinian from his first trip to Kenya.  Russ obtained the plant from the Huntington Botanic Garden in California.  Russ believes this is actually Sansevieria parva.

Sansevieria parva
Sansevieria parva?
The plant has grown slowly but steadily (as Sansevieria do) for me in the intervening years.  And this year, for the first time, it has bloomed!  The flowers are strongly fragrant.  When I stepped into the greenhouse it was a very pleasant smell, but when I stuck my nose right up to the flowers it was a little too much for me.

Sansevieria parva
Sansevieria flowers