Sansevieria Hahnii Black Star/Gold dark green succulent easy care indoor plant
A member of the long popular family of plants more commonly snake plants or as mother in law and Devil’s tongues. They are native to West Africa, notably Madagascar, as well as Southern Asia and in their home their name translates as bow-string-hemp which describes the use to which they were put. Originally classified as Agaves but, following DNA analysis, are now included in the genus Dracaena in the family Asparagaceae.
Their leaves are typically arranged in a rosette around the growing point and get larger as the plant gets older. The so called hard leaved species, of which this plant is a member, have a number of adaptations for surviving dry regions. These include thick, succulent leaves for storing water and thick leaf cuticles which reduce moisture loss. The leaves are shorter than many of the Dracaena species as a further adaptation to arid conditions.
In your house this means that they will appreciate a position in very good light, preferably in a South Facing room. It also means that they require hardly anything from you and like to completely dry out, and for the water stored in their leaves to be utilised, before needing watering again. In practice in our house this means that they will need watering once or twice during summer and hardly ever in winter. However if you want to give it some care in the meantime clean its leaves. Like many plants they benefit from being cleaned as dust can block the stomata on the leaf surface reducing the efficiency with which that leaf can photosynthesise.
It will also benefit from being fed during the growing season although, like most succulents, requires very low level of nutrition so if using a general fertiliser dilute to 1/3 of the manufacturers recommendations. If you feed them they are more likely to flower. When they do they are greenish-white and star shaped and open in sequence on a simple flower stem which takes about 3 weeks to develop. Flowering is also more likely if the plant is slightly pot bound (squeezed into its pot) and exposed to a little bit of stress. Making sure that you leave a longish gap between watering it seems to do the trick.
Given where they originate from you might imagine that these plants are very sensitive to cold. However they populate exposed areas some of which are at high altitudes and whilst they are far from frost tolerant can take temperatures as low as 10 C so will happily over winter in our house as long as they are not exposed to freezing draughts or left behind a curtain near to a frosty window.
This plant will be supplied to you in a 10cm pot along with a comprehensive easy to follow care guide.
