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Sanseviera cylindrica or Spear Sanseviera, a native of South Tropical Africa and Natal, is one of the more interesting sansevieras that we grow. The round, rigid leaves reach about 5 feet in height and are about 1-¼ inches in diameter. Like all sansevieras, they are easy to culture and well suited to the home environment. The cylindrial nature of the leaf apparently occurs due to a suppression of dorsi-ventral symmetry, which produces a true top and bottom in most leaves. Instead, the "precursor tip" produced during the earliest stages of leaf development (usually small in most species) enlarges without breaking radial symmetry.
Blooming Time: In spring. The 1-½ inch flowers are white tinged with pink.
Culture: Sanseviera cylindrica are easy to grow and tolerate a wide range of conditions. We use a soil mix consisting of 3 parts loam to 1 part sand. The plants are very drought tolerant and are watered about every other week during the growing season. They are fertilized once during the growing season with a balanced fertilizer. During the winter months they are watered once a month.
Propagation: Sanseviera cylindrica are propagated by cuttings or by divisions taken at any time. Cuttings should be at least 3 inches long and inserted in moist sand. A rhizome is will emerge at the cut edge of the leaf.
Sanseviera cylindrica was featured as Plant of the Week January 25-31, 2002.
Guide to Past Plants-of-the-Week:
Cal's Plant of the Week is provided as a service by the University of Oklahoma Department of Botany & Microbiology and specifically Cal Lemke, who is OU's botany greenhouse grower and an avid gardener at home as well. If the above links don't work, then try the overview site. You may also like to look at the thumbnail index. To receive Plant-of-the-Week by e-mail, go to the Plant-of-the-Week listserv subscription page. To contact us, please use this online form. ©1998-2008 All rights reserved.