Famous for sturdy striped leaves, wide varieties of Sansevieria offer medicinal properties and have traditionally been used in some regions.
Sansevieria varieties range from succulent desert plants to thinner-leafed tropical plants and often develop dense clumps from a spreading rhizome or stolons.
I have curated a list of popular Sansevieria varieties for indoor and outdoor growth. Let’s know them all in detail.
Table of Contents Show
25 Stunning Sansevieria Varieties You Will Love
Native to Africa, Sansevierias promote Feng Shui and bestow air purifying properties.
In China, the Sansevieria is usually potted in a planter, often ornamented with dragons and phoenixes.
Alongside their evergreen nature, Sansevierias stands with the tagline, the hard-to-kill plant, so that you can grow these varieties quickly.
1. Sansevieria Ballyi
Sansevieria Ballyi, also known as Dwarf Sansevieria, is stemless species that spreads aerial stolons above the ground horizontally.
The spider-like stolons are green with pale-green dramatic stripes with rough leaf texture.
Meanwhile, when they bloom, they bear 6-8 cm long flower stalks in greenish-white clusters.
2. Sansevieria Metallica
One of the rarest varieties in the Sansevieria family, Sansevieria Metallica has a silvery presence with horizontally marbled accents.
Metallica can grow about 2-3 feet tall outdoors or in pots with proper care.
The plant occasionally bears ovoid-shaped small flowers that are greenish-white in color with a sweet fragrance.
3. Sansevieria Moonshine
Prized for broad, tongue-shaped silvery green leaves, Sansevieria Moonshine is also known as the silver Snake plant.
They are slow-grower plants yet manage to attain the height of 2 feet with 4-5 inches broad leaves.
When the leaves are young and juvenile, they are white but gradually turn green with time.
This Sansevieria variety occasionally blooms with slightly fragrant, creamy-white flowers that develop in clusters.
Focus on bright indirect light and ensure they receive 2-3 hours of morning sunlight and phosphoric fertilizer to encourage flowering.
4. Sansevieria Black Gold
Black Gold is a top-ranking variety that grows up between 2 and 3 inches tall with a spread of 18 inches.
The plants’ slick and sharp foliage appearance has earned the name “Black Gold.”
Black Gold also bears a dainty spray of delicate, whitish-green flowers, which can attract the bugs and pests around it.
5. Sansevieria Canaliculata
Sansevieria Canaliculata is a stemless succulent that grows up to 3 feet tall in patches from a creeping rhizome.
They also produce pale greenish-pink buds and white-tinged green flowers featuring tubes size 2.5 cm long.
Canaliculata develops inflorescences from the rhizome ranging from 5-16 cm long to 3-4 mm thick at the base.
6. Sansevieria Cleopatra
Sansevieria Cleopatra is a slow-growing succulent that adds ornamental value with a rosette and intricate foliage pattern.
This hybrid plant portrays a pale and deep green color combination on the leaves outlined with yellowish edges.
If provided with reasonable care, Sansevieria Cleopatra can grow 0.30 meters tall with a spread of 0.60 meters and live as long as 30 years.
Cleopatra produces small, white flowers with a fragrance similar to cinnamon or mint.
7. Sansevieria Gracilis
Native to tropical Eastern Africa, Sansevieria Gracilis is a compact Snake plant with growth limited to 2-5 feet tall.
Like other Sansevieria, Gracilis also produces intense sweet, scented yellowish-green Snake plant flowers.
The flowers later turn into a fruit (globose berry) that is an inch or two long tubes.
You can keep these varieties for 5-10 years and even longer if given the right growing conditions.
8. Sansevieria Cylindrica
Often known as ‘African Spear’ or ‘Brazil Saint Barbara Sword,’ Sansevieria Cylindrica has received the name due to its striped cylindrical appearance as a spear.
Sansevieria Cylindrica is a slow-growing succulent that reaches 4-7 feet tall with a spread of 2-3 feet.
Meanwhile, the stiff evergreen foliage is cylindrical and features thin vertical stripes with horizontal paler green bands.
You can enjoy the Company of Sansevieria Cylindrica with excellent care for over 15-25 years.
9. Sansevieria Whitney
Sansevieria Whitney is a succulent plant that thrives in relatively colder climates.
Unlike other cousins, Whitney also features a snake pattern on solid dark green spear-shaped leaves edges.
The shape of Whitney is like an inverted pyramid and includes an arrangement of leaves in the form of a rosette.
A mature upright Sansevieria Whitney can attain a height of 8-12 inches with a spread of 10-16 inches.
10. Sansevieria Fischeri
The younger Sansevieria Fischeri consists of tight rosettes of thick, mottled leaves that remain so until they mature.
Those single leaves (8-16 inches tall) grow straight out of the ground cylindrically and have a deep green color with a smoky gray banded pattern.
Sansevieria fischeri also produces delicate white, sweet-scented flowers during summer.
11. Sansevieria Hyacinthoides
Sansevieria Hyacinthoides, well-known as an ornamental plant, stands tall and sturdy with robust and evergreen foliage.
With proper care, they grow 2-4 feet tall with a narrow spread at a relatively faster growth rate.
Alongside ornamental purposes, Hyacinthoides are popularly grown for their medicinal and spiritual benefits.
Likewise, they bless you with small, tubular creamy white or greenish-white flowers in clusters once a year.
12. Sansevieria Laurentii
Sansevieria Laurentii has fleshy, erect sword-shaped leaves that are deep green with light green horizontal strips and wide creamy-yellow edges.
They also have thick rhizomes from where the leaves grow as a basal rosette and can grow as big as 2-4 feet tall with 1-2 feet spread.
Although rare, Laurentii produces pale green, mildly fragrant flowers after maturity once a year.
The flowers, after pollination, turn into orange berries during spring.
13. Sansevieria Patens
Sansevieria Patens are gorgeous with a rosette-based structure, slow growing perennial.
The leaves have dark green and paler green transverse bands, which turn bluish-green as they age and develop longitudinal blackish-green lines.
They also bloom tubular flowers in clusters that are grey-white. Their leaves are up to 3 feet long and 45 cm thick.
14. Sansevieria Pinguicula
Popularly known as ‘Walking Sansevieria,’ Pinguicula is a sturdy plant native to dry regions of Kenya.
Pinguicula has moon-shaped thick leaves arranged in a rosette with reddish-brown horny margins edged with rigid, papery white cuticles.
They store moisture and nutrients in their thick leaves to sustain life in drought conditions.
Sansevieria Pinguiculas have perianth tube cylindrical-shaped flowers in a cluster that produce globular berries.
15. Sansevieria Samurai
Also known as Sansevieria ehrenbergii, Samurai is native to tropical Africa and has an intricately gorgeous color combination.
Sansevieria Samurai has blade-like pointy leaves stacked and fanned in a zigzag pattern in two opposite rows.
Their deep green leaves with shallow grooves have a slight red tint on the edges and tips.
Besides that, the plant can grow about 5 feet tall with leaves 1-2.5 inches wide.
Like other Sansevieria, Samurai also produces grayish-white flowers in spiraling clusters.
16. Sansevieria “Golden Hahnii”
Growing up to 8 inches tall, Sansevieria “Golden Hahnii” is best known for its buttery yellow leaves accented with green stripes.
One of the dwarf Sansevieria, they are the best choice for groundcover or smaller apartment decoration.
The rosette-like foliage resembles a cross between a rose and a bird’s nest and is often mistaken for a Bromeliad.
Sansevieria “Golden Hahnii” produces small, sterile flowers when the plant is overcrowded or stressed in summer or autumn.
The flowers are sweetly fragrant and greenish-white, producing seedless orange berries.
17. Sansevieria Silver Queen
Sticking with its name, Sansevieria Silver Queen has greenish-gray leaves, almost frosty silver with green horizontal lines.
The leaves are fleshy and thick, having a swordlike appearance that grows in a cluster from the rhizomes.
Alongside silver green color, the leaves have irregular horizontal light green bands.
18. Sansevieria Trifasciata “Mother-in-law’s Tongue”
Mother-in-law Tongue is the most popular Sansevieria species for its slick swordlike long leaves, which are 80-100 cm long and 5-7cm wide.
The plant’s yellow-striped whitish-green leaves with horizontal irregular deep green stripes grow upward from a basal rosette.
Under excellent care, Trifasciata can grow up to 5 feet tall with 1-3 inches wide leaves.
In addition to exotic leaves, the plant bears tiny light green tubular flowers in spring that offer a sweet floral scent.
Don’t Get Confused!
“Dracaena” is now called “Sansevieria,” as its official name has been changed due to its similarity to the genus Dracaena, which is also commonly called Corn Plant.
19. Sansevieria Trifasciata “Twisted Sister”
This Sansevieria species is one of the rarest and most elegant succulents that grow about 15 inches tall.
Twisted Sister features bright gold and green variegated leaves that wrenches as they appear from the base resembling like bird’s nest.
Also, they come in several varieties of golden yellow and lime green colors with silvery green markings on the center.
20. Sansevieria Trifasciata “Bantel’s Sensation”
Sansevieria Trifasciiata, “Bantel’s Sensation,” is native to West Africa that can grow up to 2-3 feet tall with a spread of 1-2 feet.
This stemless sansevieria has erect, fleshy, sword-shaped leaves that grow straight from a thick rhizome.
They also produce creamy white, tubular, slightly fragrant flowers but are rare for indoor plants.
21. Sansevieria Kirkii “Star Sansevieria”
Sansevieria Kirkii is an uncommon species with underground stems and leaves with undulating brown and yellow margins.
Native to East Africa, Star Sansevieria has upright, sturdy lance-shaped leaves with a pointy tip and wavy edges.
They produce greenish-white fragrant blooms in clusters on a conical inflorescence.
Despite being a slow grower, Star Sansevieria grows about 3-5 feet tall, and their leaves can grow over 6 feet with a 3-4 inches spread.
22. Sansevieria Masoniana “Mason’s Congo”
Sansevieria Masoniana is a semi-succulent plant with an unusual appearance, a pale center, and outward growing leaves.
They have broad 5-6 inch wide lance-shaped leathery dull blue-greyish-green leaves.
With proper care, Mason’s Congo can produce flowers in clusters from the center in summer to winter.
23. Sansevieria Parva “Kenya Hyacinth”
Hailing from tropical forests of Africa, Sansevieria Parva is a slow-growing perennial that produces flowers that smell like Hyacinth.
But with gradual aging, the leaves turn solid deep green and are often 1-1.5 feet long with an inch width.
Kenya Hyacinth grows in a cluster of 6-12 medium green leaves with dark green cross-bands, forming a rosette.
Unlike other Snake plants, Kenya Hyacinth regularly produces small, white, or pale flowers with a lovely fragrance.
24. Sansevieria Zeylanica “Ceylon Bowstring Hemp”
Often misunderstood as Sansevieria Trifasciata, Ceylon Bowstring Hemp is a Snake plant with a slightly different leaf pattern.
While growing from the rhizomatous rootstock, Ceylon Bowstring Hemp has creamy-white wave-like horizontal stripes across its surface.
Its flowers are pale green and develop up to 2 feet tall flower stalks if you want to keep them.
25. Sansevieria Cylindrica “Boncel”
Sansevieria Cylindrica’ Boncel’ is a compact hybrid Sansevieria variety that spreads like a fan over time.
Hailing from Southern Africa, Boncel leaves grow straight out from the plant base and form deep green concentric circles from top to bottom.
The tubular leaves (8-10 inches long) are green with dramatic horizontal light green bands and vertical dark green stripes.
Although rare, the plant produces tall flower stalks rising from the basal spear in spring, and these greenish-white flowers from pink buds offer a sweet fragrance at night.
Tips to Care for Sansevieria Plants
Regardless of the variety, almost all Sansevieria plants are easygoing and thrive with relatively minimal care.
The plant may begin to exhibit telltale signs like yellowing leaves and stunted growth under care mishaps.
Thus, ensure to stick with the ideal care routine to leverage the benefits of the Snake plant at all times.
| Factors | Favorable Conditions |
|---|---|
| Light | 8-10 hours of bright indirect light |
| Water | Once every 10 days (at most) during the growing season and once a month in winter |
| Temperature | 70- 90°F (21-32°C) |
| Humidity | 30-50% |
| Soil | Loamy soil with pH of 5.5-7.0 |
| Fertilizer | All Purpose Plant Food 10-10-10 two time a year |
| Repotting | Once every 2-5 years in terra cotta pots |
| Pruning | Prompt pruning of old, decaying or damaged leaves |
| Propagation | Via plant division, leaf cutting and root cutting |
FAQs About Sansevieria Varieties
What is the rarest Sansevieria?
Sansevieria Sayuri, Moonshine, and Siam Silver are some of the rarest Sansevieria species that boast silvery, grayish unique foliage.
What is the most common Sansevieria?
Sansevieria Trifasciata is the most common Sansevieria variety prized and sought out for its unique sword-like leaves.
From Editorial Team
Beneficial But Toxic Profile!
Amongst 70 Sansevieria varieties, all offer air-purifying benefits, while some share traditional medicinal properties.
However, all of the Sansevieria varieties are also toxic to furry pals like cats and dogs and poisonous to eat to humans too.
So, mind the plant positioning!
