English: Snake plant; Mother-in-law’s tongue; Viper’s or African bowstring hemp.
Clades: Dracaenaceae;
Asparagales.
Botanical features• Columnar long-lived rhizomatous perennial with stiff, sword-like, pointed leaves that grow nearly vertical.
• Native range: Tropical Africa [Zaire, Nigeria]. Widely naturalised and domesticated beyond native range.
• Leaves thick, dark green cross-banded with grey green; to 1.2 m long.
• Flowers inconspicuous, greenish-white, on long spikes, in spring.
• Flowers fragrant, especially during the evening and night.
• Fruit is a small, globose, orange berry that persists on the plant.
• Tolerant of salt and saline soils.
• Genus named after Raimond de Sangro, Prince of Sanseviero [1710-1771], Italian patron of horticulture.
• Named snake plant for both the resemblance of the leaf patterns with some snake skins and the very long snake-like leaves; named mother-in-law’s tongue for the sharp-tipped leaves.
• Very common houseplant that will survive a wide range of conditions except too much water during the winter months, which will cause the leaves to tip over [‘floppy syndrome’]. Plant propagators claim that Sansevieria ‘almost needs no care’ and ‘doesn’t know how to die’. It has been propagated upside-down and still grew out normally.
Beneficial dragonsUbiquitous denizens of Belgian windowsills, the sansevieria can be considered Belgium’s national pot plant. Although seemingly equally loved, the plant is looked upon with mixed feelings in Holland. Regarded an old-wives’ plant by some, it is commonly associated with narrow-mindedly watching the world from behind the sansevierias accompanied by gossiping, gabbing, nitpicking. In the 1970s, on the other hand, the plant came to be linked with tongues being loosened in the form of feministic protest songs.
In contrast to the snake’s negative associations in Christianity, its equivalent, the dragon is a beneficial power in the Orient conferring wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge. The sansevieria is referred to as a dragon for its many unique qualities. The plant has a rich history of cultivation. ‘In China, it was kept as a treasured houseplant because the Eight Gods bestowed their eight virtues on those who grew them. These virtues include long life, prosperity, intelligence, beauty, art, poetry [symmetry], health and strength. The plants were kept near the entrances inside the home so that the eight virtues could pass through in a manner pre-Feng Shui. These plants also were placed in fine restaurants, herbalists’, acupuncturists’, doctor’s offices, accountant’s offices, banks, shrines, monasteries, and even in rice paddies. Sanseverias were grown and cherished well before the Chinese ti plant [Dracaena spp.], also known as the Good Luck Bamboo.
… As with many Asian martial arts techniques, the strength comes from within. The Sansevieria has been known to split large earthen pots upon reaching larger sizes. Many qualities from within the plant makes it very well kept and cherished. The mere presence of this plant is said to bestow the eight essential qualities upon you. So many times this plant is kept at the entrance or reception or foyer area of a home or place of business. The Chinese have usually kept this plant potted in a pot within a ceramic pot often ornated with dragons and phoenixes. The attraction of this plant towards dragons is said to be magnetic.’
Constituents and effects≈ Haemolytic saponins and organic acids in leaf and flower. The salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea, and haemolysis resulting from extremely high doses are related to the gastrointestinal activity of these compounds.
≈ Steroidal saponins - abamagenin, neoruscogenin, ruscugenin, sansevierigenin. Biological activities attributed to neoruscugenin include anti-inflammatory, anti-varicose, venotonic, and improving capillary fragility. The compound is also found in
Ruscus aculeatus.
≈ Beta-sitosterol - phytosterol similar in structure to cholesterol; plant equivalent of animal cholesterol; may reduce cholesterol manufacture by the liver or block its absorption.
≈ Hemicellulose in leaf.
Therapeutics and other uses≈ Known in Suriname as ‘krokodilletong’, crocodile’s tongue, Sansevieria leaves are used to treat herpes zoster.
≈ Rhizomes, chewed or steeped as a decoction, thought effective in Africa against intestinal parasites, stomach ulcers, and haemorrhoids.
≈ Leaves used in Africa to treat earache, itch, headache, snakebite, sores, fever, baldness, and malaria.
≈ Like some other members of its genus, S. trifasciata yields bowstring hemp, a strong plant fibre once used to make bowstrings.
≈ Often used as an air purifier and to curb ‘sick building syndrome’; absorbs and eliminates significant amounts of carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene, according to NASA research. It is also reputed to absorb cooking odours and therefore sometimes found in Italian restaurants, in the belief that it removes the smell of garlic and anchovies.
Picture≈ Sharp, fault-finding, nitpicking.
≈ Feeling of isolation, rejected by the community.
≈ Rigid, ‘black-and-white thinking’.
≈ Blind for own shadow.
≈ Working hard and feelings suppressed, as in post-war reconstruction situations.
≈
Dreams: violent sex; prostitution to survive; forgotten casualties of war.
≈ Voracious appetite, wolfing food down, followed by nausea.
≈ Contractive pain between scapulae.
≈ Sensation of heaviness.
≈ Hyperventilation - difficult respiration, suffocative.
≈ Burning pain in heart region, extending to stomach / throat.
[Anne Wirtz; personal communication]
LiteratureDream proving Boris Peisker [Germany], 13 provers [11 females, 2 males], 30c [8 provers] and 1M [5 provers]; 2004.
Meditative proving Anne Wirtz [Holland], 7 participants; 30c; 2004.
www.angelfire.com/hi4/Sansevieria/