Far and away the most important member of this family where house plants are concerned is Sansevieria trilasciata laurentii, which has the amusing common name of mother-in-law’s tongue. Numerous reasons are put forward for the plant having acquired such a name, one of them being that, like mothers-in-law, once you have got one of these plants you never seem to he able to get rid of it!
Hygiene plays a very important part in the care of saintpaulias; any dead matter in the way of flowers, leaves or leaf stalks should he removed as soon as it is seen. Incidentally, all these newer saintpaulias arc protected by licence and royalties have to be paid for all cuttings that may be propagated in any quantity.
I was once informed by a lady plant grower that when she purchased her sansevieria the advice given by the supplier was that she should water it once each year in August. On asking her, somewhat incredulously, how long it had lasted under such harsh treatment she replied that it was in its fourth year and doing very well!
Though the average saintpaulia grower usually hesitates to expose his plants to full sunlight, he may take comfort, as I did. It makes very good strong plants, but wants to he in the house, on a sunny window-sill, with as much light and sun as possible, even the scorching Portuguese summer sun.
Full light is essential, feeding not particularly important, but reasonable warmth should be provided. A combination of cold and wet conditions can be particularly harmful. Pale green, sweetly scented flowers are sometimes hailed as something of a phenomenon, but older plants will flower quite regularly during the summer months, and even relatively piling plants will sometimes oblige.
A rule-of-thumb tip for watering is that the leaves should be just perceptibly allowed to droop, or become slightly limp to the touch, between each application of water. There are a number of other sanscvicrias that one is likely to come across, all of ‘which require similar treatment: However, S. t,Izahnii and S. t. Golden Hahnii make compact rosettes of overlapping leaves, the one green and the other with yellow-gold colouring. These are extremely slow growing and must be the ideal sort of plant for a bottle garden as there is little chance of them ever becoming overgrown.
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