December, 1999 
19 
the original description of S. forskaoliana gave no details 
of leaves, and the type specimen docs not include leaves 
Presumably the “1-2 leaves" is taken from the 
description of S. abyssinica N E Brown, which has 
been reduced to synonymy under S. forskaoliana 
(Hepper & Friis. 1994) The account in the Ethiopian 
flora (Teketay. 1997) follows the same author’s 1995 
paper 
Confused? So am I However, alter I had been 
looking into this plant for some time, and was beginning 
to suspect that it might be an undcscribed species. I 
heard that it is now to be described as a new species by 
someone else Whilst wailing for the description to 
appear. I thought it worthwhile to present an account 
of the frustration I have had in trying to identify it. to 
demonstrate why it is not always easy to give a name 
for a plant. 
L.E. Newton 
Dept of Botany. Kenyatta University. Box 43844. 
Nairobi. 
References 
Bos. J.J.AD. Teketay (1997). Dracaenaceae. In. S. 
Edwards. Scbscbe Dcmissow & I Hcdbcrg ted ). 
Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 6: 76-82. University, 
Addis Ababa & University, Uppsala 
Brown. N.E. (1915) Sansevieria A monograph of all 
the known species Bull, Misc. Inform tKcw) 
1915(5) 181 
Engler. A & K Krause (1911) Utiaceae afneanae 
II Boi. Jahrb 45 123-155 
Friis. I. 1995. Sansevieria forskaoliana A new name 
for Sansevieria abyssinica. Sansevieria Journal 
4(1): 3-8 
Hepper. F.N & 1. Friis (1994) Vie Plains of Pehr 
Forsskdl's Flora AegypiiacoArabica Royal Botanic 
Gardens. Kew 
Mbugua. P K (1994). Sansevieria Thunb. In A D Q 
Agnew & S Agncw. Upland Kenya Wild Flowers. 
Edn 2: 312. East Africa Natural History Society, 
Nairobi 
Mbugua. P K (1998) Three Sansevieria species ol 
Kenya II Sansevieria braunu Cact. Slice. J. (US) 
70:311-312. 
Newton, L E. (1996) An update on East African 
sansevierias. Bally a 3 14-17 
Pfennig, H (1977). Rasenbild bis haumurtig die 
Sansevierien. Ganenpraxis 1977 506-511. 
Schul/. R. & A Powys (1998) Pinguone. Kenya. 
Succulents and their Environment Schul/ 
Publishing. Tccsdale (Australia). 160 pp. 
Teketay, D ( 1995) The genus Sansevieria in Ethiopia 
A contribution to the Flora of Ethiopia. Sansevieria 
Journal Ml) 43-58 
Teketay. D. (1997) Sansevieria Thunb In S Edwards. 
Sebsebe Demisscw & I Hcdbcrg (cd.), Flora of 
Ethiopia and Eritrea 6 79-82 University. Addis 
Ababa & University, Uppsala 
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