International Succulent Introductions

Sansevieria patens N. E. Br.

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ISI 2004-35. Sansevieria patens N. E. Br.

This is a neotenic sansevieria. That is, it has a juvenile growth form that persists into maturity. Its compact rosettes are composed of short, arching, cylindrical, longitudinally grooved leaves. N. E. Brown described the species, thought to originate from Kenya, from a plant that flowered at Kew, April 4, 1910. On Dec 2, 1958 the US Department of Agriculture introduced it to the US as # 254414. Many of the USDA introductions of Sansevieria were planted in the naturalistic environment of the dry Koko Crater, an annex of the Foster BG in Honolulu, HI. In 1981, sansevieria collector Alice Waidhoffer of Stockton, CA, visited Koko Crater where she found S. patens (FBG 66.649). Alice was able to exchange material from her extensive and well-documented collection for plants from FBG, and S. patens began to circulate on the mainland. Ed Eby actively propagated S. patens in his nursery and shared material with Dave Grigsby who distributed it through Grigsby Cactus Gardens. Later offerings of the same plant through Glasshouse Works in Ohio were distributed as USDA #19516 in error. We offer rooted cuts of HBG 62111, a plant ex (Latin for "received from") John Bleck when he worked at UC Santa Barbara, ex Waidhoffer. Additional material came from Virginia Martin ex Grigsby’s. Thanks to Alice’s research, we are able to conclude that this is all the same clone–and the type clone–of this choice sansevieria. $8.50.