Sansevieria trifasciata
(mother-in-law’s tongue)

Preferred Common Name

• mother-in-law’s tongue

Other Scientific Names

• Aletris hyacinthoides var. zeylanica L.
• Sansevieria jacquinii N.E.Br.
• Sansevieria laurentii
• Sansevieria laurentis De Wild.
• Sansevieria trifasciata var. laurentii (De Wild.) N.E.Br.
• Sansevieria zeylanica var. laurentii (De Wild.) L.H.Bailey

International Common Names

• English: good-luck plant; iguanatail; konje hemp; snake plant; viper’s bowstring hemp
• Spanish: lengua de suegra; lengua de vaca; sansevieria
• French: chanvre d'Afrique; langue de belle-mère

Local Common Names

• Cook Islands: riri
• Costa Rica: Espada de Judas; Espada del Diablo
• Germany: Bogenhanf
• Guam: tigre
• Jamaica: tiger cat
• Lesser Antilles: oreillo di burian; rhamni; yerba ci cinta; yerba di colebas
• Palau: kitelel
• Tonga: alelo; elelo; ngata

EPPO code

• SAHTR (Sansevieria trifasciata)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Monocotyledonae
•                     Order: Liliales
•                         Family: Agavaceae
•                             Genus: Sansevieria
•                                 Species: Sansevieria trifasciata

While many botanists have adopted the APG III system of classification for the orders and families of flowering plants, which places Sansevieria in the family Asparagaceae, the CAB Thesaurus continues to use the Cronquist system which places it under Agavaceae. The taxonomic tree in the Identity section reflects this positioning. The Notes below describe how Sansevieria is placed within the APG system. USDA-ARS (2012) places Sansevieria within the subfamily Nolinoideae in the Asparagaceae, but notes that the genus is sometimes also placed in the Agavaceae, Convallariaceae, Dracaenaceae, Liliaceae or Ruscaceae.

The family Asparagales includes about 153 genera and 2480 species that are distributed worldwide. This family is subdivided into seven subfamilies: Aphyllanthoideae, Agavoideae, Brodiaeoideae, Scilloideae, Lomandroideae, Asparagoideae, and Nolinoideae. For some authors, the classification of this family is highly unsatisfactory. There are no specific traits that characterize this family, and some of the subfamilies are difficult to recognize while others are very distinctive (Stevens, 2012). Sansevieria is a genus of xerophytic perennial herbs including about 60 species distributed in tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar, and Arabia. In addition, there are many hybrids and horticultural variants and as a result the classification of plants within this genus is often very difficult (Acevedo Rodríguez and Strong, 2005). Within the genus Sansevieria, the species S. trifasciata is the species most commercialized in the nursery and landscape trade. Henley et al. (1991) reported that at least 20 cultivars of this species were sold in nurseries around the world.

S. trifasciata is a succulent plant with stout creeping rhizomes. Leaves 1 or 2 together, linear-oblanceolate, stiffly erect, 30-100 × 3 cm, the apex tapering to a stiff green point; the blades are transversely banded with contrasting green and whitish zones; margins are green. The inflorescence is pedunculate, 30-75 cm long. Flowers are solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, pedicels up to 5 mm long; perianth tube 1 cm long or less, the linear lobes up to 2 cm long, white or greenish white. Fruits are subglobose to oblong-ellipsoid, 7-9 × 5-8 mm, bright orange (Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong, 2005).

Sansevieria species were probably introduced to Florida during a period of Spanish colonization between 1765 and 1820 (Henley, 1982). In 1891, C.R. Dodge wrote a report on fibre investigations for the US Department of Agriculture and there he reported the species Sansevieria zeylanica (now S. trifasciata) growing in several localities in southern Florida (Dodge, 1891). Between 1910 and 1940, several attempts to cultivate S. trifasciata in order to produce fibre were performed in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bahamas and the British West Indies (Joyner et al., 1951) where it probably spread vegetatively from areas where it has been cultivated. In 1918, N.L. Britton reported this species as “common in gardens” in Bermuda and he also mentioned that it was grown at the Agricultural Station in 1913 (Britton, 1918).

In Florida during the 1920s, S. trifasciata was commercialized as a pot plant and later exported to Europe, Central and South America and the Caribbean (Henley, 1982). For Puerto Rico, S. trifasciata was first collected in 1914 on Vieques Island (Smithsonian Herbarium), and by 1924 N.L. Britton reported this species as “spontaneous after cultivation” and he also mentioned that this species was commercially grown at Sabana Llana between 1929 and 1930 (Britton, 1930). In Australia, S. trifasciata was classified as a potential weed by 1998, however it is widely used as an ornamental here (Csurhes and Edwards, 1998).

By 2000, S. trifasciata was classified as “invasive” in Florida and the trade and commercialization of plants was restricted due to their actual or potential invasiveness (Garofalo et al., 2000). This species is also classified as invasive in Cuba (González-Torres et al., 2012), Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong, 2012), Hawaii (Flynn and Lorence, 2002), the Galapagos Islands (Jørgensen and León-Yánez, 1999), Juan Fernández Island (Atkinson and Sawyer, 2011), the Cook Islands (Space and Flynn, 2002), Fiji (Smith, 1979), French Polynesia (Lorence and Wagner, 2008), Niue (Space et al., 2004), Palau (Space et al., 2003) and Western Samoa (Space and Flynn, 2002).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• saline
• shallow

S. trifasciata can be dispersed by seeds, leaf cuttings and rhizomes. Seeds are mainly dispersed by birds and other animals that eat the brightly coloured fruits. Leaf segments and rhizomes can be dispersed in garden waste (ISSG, 2012). The species has the potential to spread vegetatively from areas where it is cultivated. Several cultivars of S. trifasciata are also sold in the nursery and landscape trade.

S. trifasciata is classified as a “noxious weed” and is included in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012). It has the potential to negatively impact and disrupt native vegetation communities in dry and wet habitat in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions (ISSG, 2012). S. trifasciata is able to grow rapidly forming extensive underground rhizome networks and impenetrable aboveground thickets that can out-compete and displace native vegetation (ISSG, 2012).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Highly mobile locally
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential
• Gregarious
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually

• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Loss of medicinal resources
• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - smothering
• Competition - strangling
• Pest and disease transmission
• Hybridization
• Rapid growth
• Rooting

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

S. trifasciata is an economically important species used as an ornamental and fibre crop. More than 20 cultivars are commercialized in nurseries and the landscape trade mainly due to the multicoloured and mottled leaves and the interesting wide variation in leaf shapes (Nazeer and Khoshoo 1984). S. trifasciata is commonly used as an indoor pot plant and it is very popular in the nursery trade because it has been found that this species is one of the most efficient plants for cleaning the air by removing toxins such as formaldehyde that are present in homes and offices (Wolverton et al., 1989). S. trifasciata is also used as a source of fibre, and in traditional medicine in Africa and Southeast Asia (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962; Sunilson et al., 2009).