The genus Sansevieria has more than 100 taxa with many more being described each year. Some have proposed merging all Sansevieria into the genus Dracaena, but we do not accept that change. At present, there are three subgenera in the genus: subgenus Paniculatus (branching inflorescences), subgenus Capitulatus (capitate inflorescences), and subgenus Sansevieria (unbranched and lax inflorescences). The largest subgenus is Sansevieria, which contains approximately two-thirds of the known species. Sansevierias are native to sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian sub-continent. The western most species known is Sansevieria senegambica, from Senegal, and the eastern most species known is Sansevieria burmanica from Myanmar and Thailand.
Sansevierias come in many shapes and forms, but in broad terms they can be separated by arborescent (or caulescent) forms (mostly in the subgenus Paniculatus) and plants with no stems (or acaulescent forms). They can also be broadly separated into broad-leaf, narrow-leaf, and cylindrical-leaf forms as well. In order to make some sense of the species, I separate them into groups, an informal taxonomic way of showing common morphological relationships. An example is the Sansevieria suffruticosa group, which contains about 9 species of cylindrical-leaf species from northeastern Africa southwards into Malawi.
To start viewing the brief descriptions of all species, including photographs, start with this link to a table of known species: Click Here |
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