| Protologue: |
Botanische Jahrbrücher 45: 153-154 (1910). |
| Subgenus: |
Capitatus |
| Etymology: |
This species honors Carl P.J.G. Braun, a German pharmacist and botanist who was an assistant in the Amani Herbarium in Tanzania. |
| Distribution: |
Western Tanzania. |
| Group: |
Sansevieria braunii
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| Brief Description: |
This is an acaulescent, broad-leaf rhizomatous species with usually 2 lanceolate-oblong leaves 50-70 cm long by 7-11 cm wide. The leaf base is slightly narrowed, and the smooth green leaves have a few whitish bands or blotches and a soft tip. The leaf margin is red-brown and hardened. The inflorescence, which is subcapitate, is 45 cm tall and simple. The flowers are distinctive because of their strong smell of vanilla. |
| Similar Species: |
Sansevieria braunii is not a well-known species, and it is much more variable in habitat than the protologue states. It appears to have both juvenile and adult leaves that can be upright, spreading, or decumbent. It can be confused with Sansevieria longiflora, Sansevieria longistyla, S. tembo, and S. vanillosa. The latter species has longer leaves but a shorter inflorescence and occurs in southeastern coastal Tanzania; Sansevieria longistyla is from Malawi and appears to be restricted to the western shoreline of Lake Malawi. Sansevieria longiflora occurs to the south and west of S. braunii and has a larger rosettes with more leaves and a simple inflorescence. Finally, Sansevieria tembo has a simple inflorescence and a much more vivid pattern of blotches and zig-zag bands. |
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Sansevieria braunii flowering in habitat west of Lake Rukwa, Tanzania.
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Sansevieria braunii in a large clump just above the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Kikwe Forest, a few miles west of its type locality of Ujiji, Tanzania.
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Sansevieria braunii with highly patterned leaves in a grouping just west of Lake Rukwa, Tanzania. The more normal form with minimal blotches appears at lower left.
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Sansevieria braunii with very long, upright leaves in a clump on a termite mound west of Lake Rukwa, Tanzania. This site is on termite mounds in deep shade.
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