Will tolerate low light levels but grows best and flowers if given bright light or morning sun. Hardy to 30-32° F. Water sparingly and not at all as temperatures dip in winter but can tolerate going weeks if not months between watering. A great indoor plant but can be grown outdoors in near frost-free areas where care should be taken to keep in a covered patio or under an eave where plants do not receive winter rainfall. A nice sized plant for a small container that needs little care.

Sansevieria canaliculata 'Dwarf' is a plant we received in in 2003 with a large collection of plants from Stockton California Sansevieria specialist Alice Waidhofer. We don't know the origin of this cultivar, but several dwarf clones of the species have been listed in literature over the years. Sansevieria canaliculata was described from a plant growing on La Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean also referred to as the Isle of Bourbon that is part of the Mascarene Island Archipelago. The absence of this plant there in more recent times and disovery of it in East Tanzania to Mozambique makes this idea a bit suspect and this dwarf form has been reported to come from Madagascar, though some speculate that this dwarf form is a Sansevieria canaliculata that is stuck in its juvenile form. The name for the genus was originally Sanseverinia as named by the Italian botanist Vincenzo Petagna in honor of his patron, Pietro Antonio Sanseverino, the Count of Chiaromonte (1724-1771), but the name was altered for unknown reasons by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg, possibly influenced by the name of Raimondo di Sangro (1710–1771), prince of San Severo in Italy. The spellings "Sanseveria" and "Sanseviera" are also commonly seen. The specific epithet is the Latin word for "channeled" which describes the longitudinal grooves in the leaves of this species.

Long placed in the Agavaceae, the Dracaenaceae and by some in the Ruscaceae families, Sansevieria was most recently placed in the subfamily Nolinoideae within the Asparagaceae family. Molecular phylogenetic studies have persuaded some to include Sansevieria in the genus Dracaena, which would make this plants name Dracaena erythraeae. Because of considerable disagreement over this change, the long standing use of its old name, and so not to cause our own and customer confusion, we continue to list this plant as a Sansevieria. 

The information about Sansevieria canaliculata 'Dwarf' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.