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Sansevieria suffruticosa 'Frosty Spears' - A very distinctive and slow growing succulent plant that over time forms a clump of open rosettes of upwardly arching stiff cylindrical leaves with sharp tips. The younger leaves have a concave inner side that runs the length with more mature leaves to 18 inches long and completely cylindrical and smooth. These leaves emerge a silvery white color and darken to a pale blue green color and are horizontally banded in blue green with very narrow pinstripe longitudinal groove lines. Aerial stolons are produced which allows the clump to expand. This plant flowers for us regularly in the greenhouse with 18 inch long spikes of well spaced white flowers.
Grow in very bright light to maintain strong pale coloration. Though we have only grown this plant indoors, the Sansevieria suffruticosa group is noted for its relative cold tolerance and this plant may be able to be used outdoors in Southern California in locations such as under an eave that is sheltered from winter rainfall and frost. If anyone has experience with this, we would love to hear their experiences with it.
Sansevieria suffruticosa is from Kenya but there is considerable confusion regarding this plant and its origin as there apparently were multiple clones that used this name. One named cone has the cultivar name 'Blue Clone' and is thought to have thinner and smaller leaves. Another thought is that this plant is actually a cultivar of the Somalian species Sansevieria phillipsiae.
The name for the genus was originally Sanseverinia as named by the Italian botanist Vincenzo Petagna in honor of his patron, Pietro Antonio Sanseverino, the Count of Chiaromonte (1724-1771), but the name was altered for unknown reasons by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg, possibly influenced by the name of Raimondo di Sangro (1710–1771), prince of San Severo in Italy. The specific epithet means "very low", "barely woody" or "shrub-like". Molecular phylogenetic studies have persuaded some to include Sansevieria in the genus Dracaena, which would make this plants name Dracaena suffruticosa. Because of considerable disagreement over this change, the long standing use of its old name, and so not to cause our own and customer confusion, we continue to list this plant as a Sansevieria.
This information about Sansevieria suffruticosa 'Frosty Spears' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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