Sansevieria 'Giant Spoon' (Giant Spoon Snake Plant) - This tough semi-succulent plant with stout rhizomes from with emerge foot to 18 inch long by 3- to 4-inch-wide dark green leaves with light green horizontal banding.
Plant in a shady spot where it has been hardy to at least 30° F if kept dry or in a very well-drained soil.
Sansevieria 'Giant Spoon' is a bit of a mystery but was a plant so tagged in a collection of Sansevieria acquired in 2004 from the late Alice Waidhofer, a renowned Sansevieria collector who lived in Stockton California and whose main Sansevieria collected now resides at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in in Na Chom Thian, Thailand and the Huntington Botanic Garden in San Marino, California. We have not been able to find any additional information about this cultivar other than the plant label, which indicated that Alice Waidhofer got the plant from Ruth Crane in 1982. Ruth Crane was also a Sansevieria enthusiast who lived in Southern California and had such plants as Sansevieria 'Crane's Black Sport', named for her, but otherwise we know little about her and whether this 'Giant Spoon' was a plant she may have named. This plant appears closest to Sansevieria concinna and Sansevieria grandis.
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. 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 'Giant Spoon'. 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 'Giant Spoon' 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. |