Welcome to the club. Many of the same questions I have. Once upon a time there was a zeylanica and some nurseries confused it with trifasciata. Most are indeed trifasciata, but there is a zeyanica some where I think. Growing conditions over many years do lead to differences and at some point new cultivars. I am still in my learning stage. You came to the right place. I'm sure you will get a better answer than I can give you. Example; Tiffany grew much nicer looking trifasciata than mine in her yard this past summer, and gave most away. Almost looked like another cultivar. Good point.
Stush

Ahel., if it looks different and you like it, you should get it. I wouldn't worry about the names.

TY, Stush! That's what I've been told these are for the past couple decades, never contradicted showing pics on here. The darker green leaves are from previous years. The almost-white are new pups over this summer. These very plants just went to IN and OH, arrived yesterday!

Stush, I saw those pictures and thought the same thing. (Purple, you missed a business opportunity there by just giving those away.)

Not to worry - I always buy first, ask questions about the names later ;) That's how I picked up the Gold Flame. Saw an interesting one in an assorted group at Home Depot and thought it might be something special. It's more the thrill of the hunt at this point. I haven't crossed over to actually ordering any varieties online.

One of my other hobbies is reef-keeping and there are these colorful little creatures called zoanthids that form flat colonies of connected polyps each about the size of a pencil eraser. From one of the standard types you might get a few polyps that morph into a completely different color combo which can be cut out and glued on a rock to start a new colony. Some of the rare color combos can fetch $100 per polyp and that's not including the cost of shipping the thing. Then differences in water parameters, lighting, etc between tanks, could mean that the colony will never look as good as what was purchased!

Of course it's hard to compare a live animal to a plant but I'd hate to purchase a sans with some super cool feature that ends up fading away.

We need FAQs for this forum. I have a bunch of sansevieria sites saved that serve as my wish list resource database for all the different varieties out there. It might be helpful for other people.

This post was edited by ahelaumakani on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 21:04

Remember the most important rule; You can't own one of everything. That's called hording. Some time we let our collection get the better of us. We need to tell ourselves that enough is enough. I have way too many and still look at more. Have to stop myself. NO help here.

Ahel, those are beautiful! I enjoyed the info & link very much.

I think Sans are one of the easiest plants to keep looking great all of the time. As long as the roots don't rot from excessively moist conditions or they are frozen, they are fine. Few house plants can even live through the range of conditions that a Sans will abide without damaging it or its' appearance. Not that I've had every kind, but never heard of any Sans that didn't respond well to this basic guideline. Some appreciate different amounts of light, have differing opinions about humidity, but the basics that would be found in a FAQ are few and simple. Maybe you could make a great pinterest list with pics of all of those different Sans?

Thank goodness there are unemotional store owners willing to part with plants at reasonable costs. I could never sell Sans or any house plants. Nobody would be willing to pay what I think they're worth. They were given to me, and that's all I want to do with them, give them to those in 'need.' I don't mind using them for trade either, that's what trading's all about - my excess in exchange for yours. At this point, I'm convinced if I give enough away, I'll get another flower. Yes, that does make sense. Really.

Stush, LOL - coming from you! Right there with you though. I want all of the Callisias, Tradescantias (non-spiderworts,) Aglaonemas, every flower color TC... oh my! Not because of the names, just because, like everyone's said, there's so many differently cool looking ones.

Probably not all or many cultivars grow as fast as the plain species. This pic is just over 2 months before the one above. I just like the look of this one best, didn't keep enough of any others for wide experimentation. Will do that sometime in the future, some side-by-sides in the ground.

S.zeylanica was described as early as 1701, but this species had been cultivated in Europe at least since 1690. It comes from Sri Lanka (former : Ceylon) and hence its name. It is a small plant, with thick, spear shaped outcurved leaves. It has little ornamental value and it is not commercially grown anywhere in the world. You can find it in Botanic Gardens or specialist nurseries . One only cultivar, a faintly yellow striped plant is recorded (see photo). Despite it was the first species of this genus to be imported in Europe, it is still rare in collections. It has been often confused with S.aethiopica, a true African species.
S.trifasciata comes from Central Africa, it was described in 1915, but was known in Europe since 1762. It has impressive straight, erect, sword shaped leaves , which can attain 1.50 meters in height. We, at present, have hundreds of cultivars (and, to be honest, its most famous cv. âÂÂLaurentiiâ was described in 1903, that is 12 years before its âÂÂmotherâ speciesâ¦).Even before its description as a new species, S.trifasciata was cultivated in many tropical areas around the world. It is a most easy species to be identified : forget leaf colour and the size of the silvery transversal bands , what really matters is the absence of a coloured leaf margin. All the other similar species (I mean : hyacinthoides, forskaoliana, metallica, grandis, aubrytiana) have a thin but conspicuous yellow-red margin. Sometimes it happens that plain S.trifasciata plants are labeled (and sold!) as S.zeylanica: this is just an error or a commercial trick. If You go for S.zeylanica on Google Images You will see only trifasciata plants. I can offer these two pics only of this elusive species:

C:\Users\Roberto\Desktop\Chrysantha1afferni\Sans.zeylanica striata.jpg

C:\Users\Roberto\Desktop\Chrysantha1afferni\Sans.zeylanica.jpg