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1) I think this is a Sansevieria suffruticosa, but I'm just guessing based on internet pictures. Does that seem right?

It made these flowers once,

enter image description here

and looks like this at the base. enter image description here

2) It's grown extremely long and lanky-looking. The leaves are >30 inches long, and sprawled and twisted all over the place. Are they supposed to do this? Should I have been pruning this in some way to prevent this from happening? I've seen similar plants where the spines go straight up, but it doesn't look like mine would do that based on the way they fan out at the base.

enter image description here

endolith
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    Welcome to the site endolith! I've seen you around the network, and am happy you came over here to ask your question. This is an interesting plant, one I don't think I've seen before. I'm glad you've gotten some good advice as to how to care for it, and hope you like it better after changing its conditions a bit. Let us know how it goes! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Mar 19 '16 at 21:10
  • Similar question: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2150595/sansevieria-cylindrica – endolith May 09 '16 at 02:23

1 Answers1

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I think its actually Sansevieria cylindrica, and as such, it needs higher light levels than many of the other varieties. Grown in bright daylight, it will be more erect and is less likely to collapse the way yours has done, though some stems may still splay to an extent. It also looks as if it needs to be set just slightly lower in its pot, so that the soil is supporting the base of the plant better.

If you can find a spot for it where it will get bright daylight, even with some sun, then I'd cut out the more splayed out stems, leaving the more upright ones. As the pot its currently in is almost full to the brim, I suggest you find a slightly taller pot, but not bigger otherwise, and repot, increasing by not more than quarter to half an inch the depth at which its planted, or just add horticultural grit to the top of the pot to provide a bit more support, again no deeper than quarter of an inch, and see what happens. With regard to the height of the pot, its better to always have one that's tall enough to leave a clear half an inch at the top with no soil or plant roots, to facilitate watering (stops it running over the edge before penetrating the soil). With better light conditions, it should produce more erect growth. More info about this plant generally in the link below - growing as a houseplant, scroll down the page

http://www.plantsrescue.com/sansevieria-cylindrica/

Bamboo
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  • You're right; the base is fan-shaped, not a rosette. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/293/ describes the differences. http://www.succulentsandmore.com/2015/03/my-favorite-houseplant-sansevieria.html shows three types side-by-side, and their cylindrica is also splayed out. – endolith Mar 20 '16 at 01:33
  • Is there a way to induce it to grow more spines out of the ground? more like http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512bXAKMAnL.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a3/41/9b/a3419b76a029ae4d32073377eefae8a4.jpg http://www.learn2grow.com/plantdatabase/plants/DisplayImage.ashx?ImageID=71903&width=560 http://images.plantcaretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sanseviera-cylindrica.jpg – endolith Mar 20 '16 at 01:46
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    Yes - by doing exactly what I said in my answer. Improving its environment and removing the weak, splayed out stems should encourage new growth from the base. – Bamboo Mar 20 '16 at 11:31
  • Well here's what I did: https://flic.kr/p/FpVDCy – endolith Apr 17 '16 at 04:20
  • Well, each to his own... – Bamboo Apr 17 '16 at 12:46
  • Haha, what? It's a deeper pot, only a little wider, with the plant a bit deeper in the soil and an inch between soil and rim. I tied them up in the hopes the roots would grow that way, with the bases more vertical, is that dumb? I'll cut off the long spines after it's started growing? – endolith Apr 17 '16 at 15:38
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    Well, this plant is meant to splay out a little - just not so much as it was, and if you like the look of it tied up into a sort of ponytail, fine, but it won't make any difference if you remove the string eventually - the ones that were really splayed out before will be so again., so I'd be brave and remove now the badly splayed ones, but not taking all the stems off, leave some of the slightly better ones untouched. If you increased its light to a good level, new ones coming through will be more upright - but they'll have a job growing through the 'ponytail'... Good about the pot though... – Bamboo Apr 17 '16 at 15:42
  • I should say I was in a hurry before, when I left my first comment, and hadn't noticed you'd put it in a new pot - sorry, I should have waited and done it after I'd come back from Tesco so I could have a good look... – Bamboo Apr 17 '16 at 15:46
  • Had a good look now - is it my imagination or does it look a better green already... hope you didn't bury too much below the soil, you don't want basal rots setting in, but, apart from the fact I don't like the tying up, it looks a lot better already. – Bamboo Apr 17 '16 at 15:52
  • Well the tying up is temporary, to keep it together while I repotted it and while it's growing into the new pot, it feels like it will pull itself apart otherwise. while I don't like the idea of cutting and leaving a bunch of stumps, I don't like the long spines either. maybe if new spines grow past them, they won't look so bad. do you mean to cut them off at the base? – endolith Apr 17 '16 at 17:45
  • Yes, that's exactly what I mean, but if you prefer, you could just wait for some new growth to start from the base - its just that cutting some down to the base should encourage more shoots faster. – Bamboo Apr 17 '16 at 17:56