Id of this sansevieria

Question

Can anyone specify the id of this sansevieria?

This one has strong and quite thick leaves about 100 cm long. I don't know if it is the normal length,as it was placed indoors receiving no sunlight.

Answer 1

Most likely, your leaf cutting is Sansevieria Trifasciata Black Coral or Sansevieria Zeylanica if there is any difference of course since there is a tendency for plant growers to allocate all sorts of names to sell more to the types of owners who want at least one of every cultivar.

Your leaf is most certainly quite old since as time wears on leaves become less shiny, much darker in colour more rigid and sadly more prone to damage. They also become more difficult to identify since the variegation often dulls over time in older leaves as more chlorophyll is deposited in cells.

Simple propagating of a snake plant leaf first ensures you have a clean cut made with a sterile blade, scissors or knife and letting it callus over for a few days, then for a complete leaf put it in a vase or glass of water, changing the water occasionally (once ever 1-2 weeks if you remember) or more frequently if the water begins to go cloudy (a sign of rot).

A more adventurous method is to make chevron cuts in one leaf, dividing the leaf into 2ins (50mm) sections as per my 1st photo below and then placing these in a moist but not soaking well draining cactus-type substrate in a seed tray and leave then for at least 6 months. You have to put the cuttings into the substrate with the pointy end upward and the ^ chevron in the substrate, it being always the closest end to the original root. The chevron increases the surface area for rooting and a new rosette will form, depending upon where you live in 6-12 months. After a year you can pot on the new rosettes (and old leaf section) in the same sort of substrate.

This is what it will look like 12 months later

Alternatively, you can put the shorter chevron cuttings in water but from my trial begun last year, I got greater success with using substrate. I got about an 85% success rate in substrate and a 40% rate in water, such that after only a few months all my initial water cuttings went into substrate. I also tried cuttings in leca & water and it was marginally better than plain water.

I also tried putting complete leaf cuttings in water and then added leca to give the leaf some support, and allowing me to raise the rooted cutting and prospective rhizome above the water level. These too are thriving semi-hydroponically with no sign of root rot, probably because I often forget to water these wonderful plants that have evolved to survive in the arid conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, their in-the-wild habitat.

Good luck.

PS: if any cutting does not 'take' or becomes infected, the leaf will begin to routinely rot at its base and it is wise to remove it and the substrate around it and ensure you do not water much at all - watering the seed tray once a month will probably do - it must not be in any way standing in water when using the substrate propagation method.

It seems counterintuitive bearing in mind you can also propagate in water but you need to be equally vigilant that rot does not take hold in the water, hence the recommendation to change the water occasionally. If a single leaf is showing signs of rot, pull out the leaf, cut back to at least 3 ins (75mm) beyond the rot and consider the multiple cutting method along with well draining cactus-type substrate.

Discard all rotting plant and substrate in a radius of 1/2 inch (10mm) - I throw this on my garden since root rot is anaerobic and exposure to air and sunlight will kill it sufficiently as to make it suitable as compostable in my opinion though others might disagree of course.