Is she using any kind of spray on them? Does she smell anything strang? I never have heard of this happening.

Yes, I've never heard this happening before :)

Nope, not sprayed with anything. No chemicals added in the past year or so.

After reading up on it some, the soil is a bit moist and the roots are tiny- maybe an average of 1/4" long. But it didn't smell rotten.

The soil has a lot of clay as it was a blend of West Virginia back yard and unknown potting mix.

This is nonsense, I have planted thousands of these plants for the Huntington, and handled them all day without gloves. I wash my hands before I put them in my mouth, I have extreme allgeries, and this has never happened. But I can't touch cactus, my hands turn red and itch. Toss the plant out soil and all, if it is bothering you.

I disagree with Norma, it is quite possible. Having studied many herbals, I know many plants have been used as topical treatments because their medicinal qualities can be absorbed by the skin. An example is garlic, when you have a toothache, try putting a garlic clove in your shoe and you'll see not only does it help your toothache, it will give you garlic breath. It is quite possible Sans have the same effect.

San. rhiziomes are chewed for the water and spit out in times of draught. The natives eat this plant as well, and yes the leaves are used as an astringent to stop infections. I would toss out any plant that bothers me especially if you are getting a nasty reaction. I am just giving an opinion and suggestion. I didn't mean to offend you. Norma

Norma,
I don't think you offended anyone. At least you didn't write anything that should have. If you did offend, it's their problem, not yours.

Check out synaesthesia. I am not saying this is it, but it could be. Wikipedia has an excellent definition of this phenomenon the last time I checked. it is a poorly understood event in which one thing evokes an unrelated sensation. For me, letters of the alphabet have colours, and so do numbers; to many musicians, whole KEYS have colour associations. Just a suggestion. I have handled thousands of these plants and never sensed any taste and hardly any scent.

Thanks for the input folks. I've forwarded the link again so she can have look.

We were in a garden shop recently, and none of the same/similar species caused the reaction.

Our suspicion is that the plant was dead! Still strange huh?

Wow have I got one for you guys. This weekend, I'm helping my friend move out. She was thinking of discarding another snake plant- looks like the same species, and from WV as well. Being the green thumb I am, I offered to plant it in the ground instead. "Stay of execution" I said hahaha. The leaves were not attached to each other. Roots maybe 1/2" long in most spots. Here's the kicker. ~~I~~ had a bitter sensation! It reminded me of pomegranate seeds.

Googling "snake plant bitter" and "sansevieria bitter" does not get any hits.

By the way- I am a "super taster", but have had no luck correlating this plant with the chemical phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) or propylthiouracil (PROP)

I'm almost of the mind to dig the thing back up and take it to the Ag Extension office.

I bought my sans from Wal-mart like 3 yrs ago, and when I put it into the pot its in now, I got a bitter taste in my mouth, but didn't think anything of it till now. I have seen the snake plant also called a hemp plant, could there be an association between the two?

I don't understand why if they were not sick and dying plants that they only had roots of one half inch or less, mine get that much root on it in hot weather in 2 weeks, just grown from a leaf cutting, something here doesn't add up, what kind of soil was being used and was it in peat moss, I'm still scratcning my head. Also called bow string plant the native tribes used it for their bows. It has very strong fibers, and cultivated for the production to make rope.
Most of these plants have rhizomes which also stores water under ground. Now how old was this plant that needed repotting? I'm just curious. Norma

Hi Gardengal28 and Norma :)

The soil was fairly clay heavy. There was a marbling of some form of store bought soil in there (i could see the perlite). The owner hails from and brought the plant as-is from West Virginia near Ohio border. I believe this was about 4 years ago. The plant may be older than that.

I didn't see any growths under the soil.

I will ask if any fertilizer was applied.

This is an interesting thread and upon reading it, it reminds me of my own little "weirdness." For several years, when I would eat a banana, I would get this tingling sensation on the back of my neck for several minutes after. Not while I was eating it, mind you, but after. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, just weird. It's been a long time since that has happened, but I always wondered why. No other bad reaction whatsoever, and I've never had any food allergies... I guess there are just unexplained phenomonon in this world!

Denise in Omaha

Dear Micah,

I would recomend that you take the plant to your local ag extention office and have it checked out if you can because it sounds like the plant has something wrong with it that you can't readily identify. I have a snake plant aka mothters inlaw tongue and mine is in regular soil in a 14" pot and the roots have been as long as 3 ft. it also barely gets watered. Mine has also flowered twice which is very rare. Its never caused a bitter taste for me but it smells bitter if the leaves are broken. Which meens that there is probably something in the plant that can cause a reaction like yours. If you can't take it to get checked out I would recomend that if your going to keep it that you wear rubber gloves and a face mask since you aren't sure if its the plant or dirt causing your reaction.

hi

any time i repot a sans i got the same characteristical SMELL when i handle the roots or cut a leaf. no other plant (group) has a smell even remotely similar. hope SJ does not read this, but methinks its characteristic of the genus. i need to check with a dracaena or agave as they are closely related.

all the best helli