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Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii' (Striped Mother-in-law's Tongue) - A tall robust plant to 3 to 4 feet tall with a tight clump of many vertically inclined dark green leaves with lighter gray-green zig-zag horizontal bands and broad longitudinal yellow stripes along the margins. Flowering on this cultivar is rare but not unheard of with fragrant greenish white flowers spaced out in clusters near the top of a vertical inflorescence within the foliage.
Will tolerate low light levels but grows best and flowers if given bright light and even tolerates full sun. Hardy to 30-32° F. Water sparingly and not at all as temperatures dip in winter, particularly if growing outdoors - can tolerate going months between watering and if grown outdoors in California does need to be kept under an eave or some other protection from winter rainfall and cold. A great large container plant for interior or exterior use that needs little care. This plant won the coveted Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1993.
The type plant of this species was collected in Nigeria and it was also found in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) but it has naturalized elsewhere and there are many selected forms in cultivation. 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 combines the Latin words 'tri" meaning three with 'fasciatus' meaning "banded" in reference to the many leaf markings. Long placed in the Agavaceae, the Dracaenaceae and by some in the Ruscaceae families, Sansevieria was most recently placed in the subfamily Nolinoideae within the Asparagaceae family.
Molecular phylogenetic studies have persuaded some to include Sansevieria in the genus Dracaena, which would make this plants name Dracaena trifasciata. 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. Our original stock plant came from the collection of Sansevieria collector Alice Waidhofer.
This information about Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii' 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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