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 and can tolerate going months between watering. If growing outdoors in frost free areas keep in a covered patio or under an eave where plants do not receive winter rainfall. A great container plant that needs little care.

The type plant of Sansevieria trifasciata 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.

The original cultivar Sansevieria trifasciata 'Hahnii' was reportedly discovered in 1939 by William W. Smith at Crescent Nursery Company in New Orleans, Louisiana and was patented patented in 1941 by horticulturist Sylvan Frank Hahn of Hahn Nursery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a company started in 1920 that is still in operation. Several other cultivars such as this yellow variegated one were later introduced from this nursery and carry the Hahn name. This cultivar is often listed as Sansevieria trifasciata 'Hahnii Variegata'.

Our plants came to us in 2004 with a large collection of plants from Stockton, California succulent plant collector Alice Waidhofer who was particularly respected for her Sansevieria collection. When dispersed this collection went to the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California and Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in Thailand, with duplicates withon collection coming to us. 

The information displayed on this page about Sansevieria trifasciata 'Golden Hahnii' is based on the research we conducted about it in our nursery horticultural library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include some of our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.