Yes you certainly picked up some nice varieties! Where do you live (what part of the country)? Enjoy them!

Beautiful plants. The only one that looks odd is this one:kirkii Coppertone. Maybe it's the lighting, or maybe is supposed to look like that, but I think it looks dried up and parched. I'm probably wrong, though

I live in Southern California, inland. The kirkii is my favorite (it's pinkish), the leaves are very thick and turgid, not dried up at all. It's way more beautiful than the photo so you may be right about the lighting. I love the lasagna edges and the way the leaves take a fan shape and that color.... I couldn't believe my good luck when I found it along with the Bentel's. It was at a local nursery (Green Thumb). The cylindrica and Hahnii's are from Home Depot of all places. When I go back to the other nursery with the greenhouse half full of various species I'll take pics of all the plants. I'm already running out of room in the house! I don't have that many horizontal surfaces with decent lighting to put them on. Same story, different species - not enough real estate. A big improvement over growing trees however (Plumeria).

You are lucky to have found that nursery with all the variety of sans. I love the Coppertone too. Picfutes don't do it justice. Looking forward to those pictures at the nursery.

Very nice collection. The silver star looks like it could be Pearl Young. How tall are the leaves?

Akkrrm, now that you mention it, yes it does look like that. I noticed right away the leaves have a pearly sheen to them so if it was named for that it makes sense! My hahniis are all new and small (with offsets most of them however) but this one is taller and the leaves are more upright. Thank you for the probable correct name as I can't find anything for Silver Star - same nursery labeled Coppertone as "Copper."

These must be at the nursery? Nice plants! I love the one in the next to the last photo. Maybe a Bally mini?

I have my eye on a schweinfurthii (there are at least half dozen) and a parva...next time.

So I looked up S. stuckyi and found a paper on it - this made me laugh out loud:

"The proposed utilization of S. stuckyi as a novel potted plant is seen as a catering
to the trend of easy maintenance, sculptural plants (Noack, 2003) for banks, bureaucrats
and bachelors. "

The last NOID could be a pinguicula or a bally. It also looks like a plant I used to have. I got it from a GW'er, hopefulauthor, a long time ago. I wish I had a definitive name for you. It's a very nice plant.

Oh good to know Mentha. It looks a tad sunbleached (the greenhouses this cactus nursery has are just glass and like furnaces in the summer here in SoCal). I'm interested in seeing what house life does for it (well, window life). I like the way the stems to the pups look braided and edged in red. It's a fierce looking little thing, compared to the hahnii it's keeping company with.

Definitely not a Pinguicula. Here's mine.

You're correct but I'll tell you why I said this. I was confused and sleep deprived last night, but I was looking online at pings and a lot of the websites mention Bally in parenthesis. I was thinking that ballyi was a subform of ping by the amount of websites that had done this. Maybe somebody can elaborate an why that is. Maybe Bally named or discovered it?

Hi Next Obsession,

I think the upright sans (... pearsoni or stuckyi?) is actually fischeri, it's old name was singularis. The pretty, barred markings on the immature ones are typical and give away it's ID, with maturity and size they become dark green. In the wild they usually develop to only a single, very tall, almost black horn, hence the old name singularis.

What nursery are you getting your sans from? It's VERY unusual to find so many sans rarities in a normal nursery. That said, you are in Calif where there are many sans specialists. I'm in Florida where other plants are much more popular, however the great sans explorer and expert Juan Chahinian is in the Naples, Fla area, or used to be.

The Black Gold name is common on your sans, but it is actually Compacta. Officially, Black Gold is the very dark form of trifasciata which is fairly common in big box stores these days. I would agree that the Black Gold name is better placed on Compacta and is a misnomer on the trifascata, but there you have it. The interior green of Compacta is so dark that it hides the normal trifasciata barring, but you can see where they would have been by the brighter yellow bars in the yellow edging. Sometimes those bars are yellow-green as they are on some of your leaves. Very few other sans show this barring in the yellow margin, maybe Futura Simplex.

Names are way out of hand on sans, I've seen your masoniana aka Mason's Congo called Whale's Tail and many other odd names, mostly on Ebay.

Depending on how tall your Silver Star is, it may be a Silver Hahnii Marginated. If it's VERY tall I agree with akrrm that it's Pearl Young. If you propagate a leaf of this, you will get Silver Hahnii without the creamy margins, a pretty sans in it's own right.

I'm a big fan of kirkii v. pulchra Coppertone too, although it's slow the colors in good light are stunningly beautiful.

You have a great collection going, keep up the good work!!!! Please post more pics as you get more sans.

Russ

Mentha, I found this.

From Eastern Zimbabwe
Leaves 5-7 rosulate, 12-30 cm long, thick-fleshy, 2.8 to 3.5 cm thick below midway, upper side very concave, tapering gradually towards the spiny tip. Infl. paniculate. The leaves are stemless, usually 1-3 and have a rough surface up to 60 cm long, erect, recurved backwards, dark grey-green, a round channel which runs the full length of the leaf. First discovered and named by Peter Bally in 1964. It looks like a small Agave. The leaf colour can vary from a pale green to beautiful blue. The leaves are tipped with a very hard light brown and lethal spine. It offsets by above ground branches which terminate in new plantlets which are carried above the ground on stilt-like roots. It appears to be walking hence the common name of "Walking Sansevieria".

I guess Mr. Bally was quite an explorer and collector.

Thanks Barb, That helps with the confusion a lot. BTW I'm going to a meet & greet with a mutual friend on Tuesday. I'll have pictures then.

Oh I am excited to hear about this.

HI Russ1023,

I really appreciate all the info on my plants and clearing up the crazy labels/no labels for me. I figured that new leaf was a good clue, the bigger ones you can hardly see that anymore. They remind me of Rhino horns, so heavy and yes spear tipped.

The "Pearl Young"/Silver Star leaves are about 8" as I bought it in a 5" pot - maybe it will get bigger? It's the same size as Moonshine, also in a small pot.

There are two cactus/succulent nurseries here, one very close to me that has at best 4 types of Sans and I haven't yet been to the other as it's a bit of a drive away. There is one nursery that has the usual houseplants with the occasional "off-the-beaten-track" Sans and there is the little nursery stuffed with unusual plants with the tiny greenhouse with a bench with all these different Sans - this is the one the owner told me the collector came in and found a couple she did not have - her name is Norma Lewis. I found out from an article from several years ago in the LA Times about her. He told me about the article and I found it online. The article says she had 200 species & cultivars. I wonder if she's still among us, she was 75 at that time, her neighborhood is just up the road from me. The article was written by Lili Singer, she works at The Theodore Payne Foundation, a California native plant nursery and educational facility.LA Times Article Bold Beauty

I had never been interested in Sans probably because they are almost ubiquitous around here and I only knew the most commonly available cultivars (laurentii) - but I am just smitten with the other species and I've come to appreciate the common ones too, they are not so common anymore, I don't see them too much. Someone gave me a Gasteria back in 2000 and it's grown from a simple fan shape to a very large & heavy plant, blooms every year. I think maybe it was my gateway to Sans. I enjoy it immensely and it asks very little of me.

Next Obsession, I don't think 8 inch leaves are overly long for Silver Hahnii Marginated, but if they get a lot longer on a taller plant I would consider it to be Pearl Young.

Chahinian in his Sansevieria Trifasciata Varieties book says that Pearl Young ''... is at best a clone of [Silver Hahnii Marginated], it's only distinguishing quality is its larger size...''. Personally I would have preferred Silver Hahnii Marginated Giant Clone or something similar, at least that indicates a relationship between the two.

Your Moonshine, one of the Futura varieties, should mature with leaves up to 12 inches long, but I have seen giant plants of it in recent years. A propagated leaf of Moonshine will produce Robusta, basically a Futura-sized trifasciata. There is a species S. robusta, a different plant.

Interesting story about your journey with sansevierias, and your comments about Norma Lewis. I've known Norma for at least 17 years. She was instrumental in passing out sans overages from Huntington Botanic Garden to us lowly collectors around the country back in 1999. These were sometimes just bits of rhizomes with leaves, not necessarily whole plants, but I've always greatly appreciated her efforts with that task, I was able to get quite a few rare sans. Of course they were not free, but the money went to The Huntington and in those days rare sans were really hard to get.

I think I would have heard if Norma had passed, so I think she's still with us. If she's in your neighborhood, I wouldn't hesitate to knock on her door and introduce yourself as a sans collector, she is friendly almost to a fault and would welcome you to see her collection if she still has one. At her age though, it's possible she has given her collection to The Huntington and her sans friends in the area, of which there were many. She is one of the true sansevieria pioneers, and a very gracious lady. I'd give anything to sit with her for a couple of hours over a glass of iced tea, I'll bet she has some STORIES....

I have over 100 different species and cultivars, I'll be glad to share my list with you or anyone else here for trading or whatever. I often send sans for the price of postage to help new collectors get started and to spread the word about sansevierias. Email me at bluesea14808@yahoo.com, always interesting to talk to folks about their sans and answer questions if I'm able.

Russ

Barbmock, interesting stuff about S. ballyi and Peter Bally, where did you find that info?

I checked S. ballyi in Chahinian's book The Splendid Sansevieria, he says that Peter Bally was ''a Swiss collector, botanist and artist who lived in Nairobi''. He must have indeed been quite the explorer and collector, with other talents as well.

Russ

He was married to Joy Adamson, of Born Free fame, for awhile anyway. Then he returned to Switzerland and worked at the Geneva Botanical Garden - I used to work not far away and absolutely loved that garden, I was there probably 10 years after he left/retired though. Apparently he was a quiet introvert - Joy was, was, hmm - nevermind. His opposite, so she is described.

Update: I found another reference stating he remarried a younger woman after divorcing Joy, had a child and that he died in Nairobi. Some speculation based on accounts that Joy was either Aspergers or bipolar. She was murdered as was her 3rd husband some years after her demise. He apparently was abusive to her but she remained married to him.

I was Googling pinguicula.

http://www.theamateursdigest.com/sansev3.htm

I liked that story about Norma Lewis. I guess most every sans fan has heard about her. I wish we could find some current news about her welfare.

I was told a few weeks ago that Norma is doing ok. She was an asset to the forum and to a lot of other forums too. This is a picture of my son with her cat in 2009. We had the privilidge of staying at her house overnight when we were on our way back home from San Diego.

Thanks for that pic Mentha, I love all this info and news about Norma, it's great to hear she's well, as I hoped. Cool pic of son and Norma's cat, I understand she is very gracious and overnights friends fairly often. What a gal, I wish I wasn't so far away, I've always wanted to meet her.

Barbmock, thanks for the tip regarding Amateur's Digest. I used to subscribe to it some decades ago, great source of info on succulents.

Next Obs, are you Swiss? In any case, must have been a grand experience living and working there. Were you in horticulture or another profession?

Russ

Thought I'd share a pic my brother Roger sent this morning, his clump of kirkii v. pulchra in bloom which I have him years ago. He lives in Homestead south of Miami, so he can grow in the ground with mild weather all year.

That weed in front is the tuberous aroid Gonatopus boivinii, he says it's the scourge of the century. You'd have to nuke his property to get rid of it.

Russ

Hey there Russ,

Did ya forget somethin? ;>)

Lena

Russ, I am Swiss by marriage, I was there for 9 years & worked in the tourism industry mainly, a brief stint in Geneva with a pharmacology co. I did alot of walking in the Alps observing the wildflowers. Right before I left I finally saw a Royal Eagle and a mountain daphne, incredible fragrance I noticed first before I found the plant.

There's no picture. :( Scourges sound like my sort of plant though. I can't wait to see what it looks like. Although it can' t be half as bad as kudzu.

Thanks kids. I'll try to post the pic again, it was on the screen when I hit 'Submit' just like it is now. If it doesn't show up, I'll try another tack.

Russ

Hmmmm, nope, it simply disappears. Looks like saving it to My Pics and posting from there might work. S. kirkii v. pulchra in flower.

Next Obs, you have had an interesting life! I can't imagine spending so much time in Europe, much less Switzerland.

Russ

Very nice Russ! Mine never flowered. I can't remember what happened to it. I probably lost it when my greenhouse collapsed.

You piqued my interest with mention of a scourge aroid though. Is that it in the left foreground? It's very interesting looking. How would one who is aroid challenged grow such a beauty? Can it grow inside? Does it need rest?

If you'd like another kirkii v. pulchra Mentha, I can send a small one of mine or get a larger one from my brother given some time, he lives 250 miles south of me.

Yes, those small plants in the foreground are the scourge aroid, Gonatopus boivinii. I can get it from him for you if you want to try it. I had it here at one time but lost it, perhaps that was a stroke of luck considering Roger's problems with it. If a leaf falls to the ground, a tuber will form at the petiole end and produce a plant. Pull it up and remaining underground tubers will produce more plants. I've forgotten it's habit but I think it wants to be a low shrub, obviously very hardy but would obviously need to be indoors in your winters.

Some of the many scourges here in Florida are several varieties of Kalanchoe. Thousands of K. tubiflora plants grow across the street from my parent's home in Cocoa Beach, at the beach access ramp. There's also thousands of Sansevieria hyacinthoides there, another scourge but less so. My parents ended up with tubiflora plants growing around their pond, how they got there I don't know but it's been impossible to get rid of them.

Russ

Russ, Thank you for the offer. Let me wait until tomorrow to decide on the sans, I am having a meet & greet tomorrow with a wonderful sans grower and he promised me a few goodies. I'm not sure what that entails yet but I'm excited just to meet him without the goodies because we both were members of Hermine Stover's Yahoo group many moons ago..

I would definitely love to try the Gonatopus boivinii, if it isn't too much trouble. I'm a sucker for large feet, and after googling it, it sounded like a very interesting plant. I also couldn't find it for sale. Is it true it's related to a ZZ? Does it require the same sort of care?

I'm not sure I would be disappointed to have the same scourges you do. We moved into a house here and started planting roses in a bare flower bed only to have morning glories and 4 o'clocks come up and strangle everything. I have decided it will be easier just to move my daughter's roses than dig tubers all year long. I spent years trying to nurture a Kalanchoe because my great grandmother had one and it made me feel closer to her. I think I lost it a few times.

Russ, beautiful plant your brother has. Re: life in Europe - yes, Switzerland happened. I went to visit a friend there and ended up staying. If I had my druthers I'd be in Morocco or Spain, or even Italy or the south of France, I'm more a Mediterranean climate personality but I learned to appreciate the mountains, snow, being landlocked and food with no chilis and few spices!

Russ I always enjoy your pics. I lost my S. kirkii pulchra from your (but not the 'Coppertone') but it is a nice plant!! Nice to see flowers! Mentha I was on Hermine's Yahoo group to along with Russ and Norma and the rest. I did not realize you were one of the folks there too! Next Obsession that is a very interesting past!!

Yep, I was. I've made my rounds through the years. Apparently It's been about 8 years since. There were a few years that I didn't grow anything because of where we were living did not allow me to have any plants that might be poisonous nor would they allow me to grow anything with sharp edges or spines. That required me to give away my whole collection of Opuntias, Sansieveria, and Agaves. My epiphytes didn't like it there either. I lose track of time sometimes. It seem like yesterday my youngest was 5, she's now 17.