Dracaena (Sansevieria) trifasciata 'Laurentii'

Laurentii in cultivation since 1904

The name ‘Laurentii’ was first used in 1904 for plants from the Congo. This yellow-edged snake plant has now been cultivated for more than a century.

The native range of Dracaena trifasciata runs from southern Nigeria across west-central tropical Africa and includes a separate population in Tanzania. Its underground stems spread sideways and send up new clusters of leaves.

Drying and root care for snake plants

• Propagation, root care and leaf care: Divide rooted rhizome offsets to retain the yellow-edged pattern. Plants grown from leaf cuttings often emerge green because the yellow margin is carried in separate tissue layers.
• Substrate and pot: Choose an airy succulent substrate that keeps its coarse structure. Drainage holes are essential, and a modest increase in pot size is safer than surrounding a small rhizome with a large volume of wet mix.
• Light: Give Dracaena ‘Laurentii’ bright, filtered light for compact growth and clear yellow margins. Acclimate it gradually before exposing the leaves to gentle direct sun.
• Watering: Let the airy substrate dry all the way through before watering, then soak the rhizome and roots evenly and remove all runoff from the cover pot.
• Temperature and humidity: Keep the plant in warm growing conditions, away from frost and cold draughts. Ordinary indoor humidity is suitable, and regular misting is unnecessary.
• Leaves: Clean the broad blades gently with a damp cloth. A damaged tip will not resume growth, so remove a badly damaged leaf at its base when necessary instead of repeatedly trimming it.

Root, stem and leaf problems in Dracaena (Sansevieria) trifasciata 'Laurentii'

• Yellow margins or green offsets: The continuous yellow edge is the cultivar's normal pattern. A fully green offset can appear after propagation from a leaf cutting or when a new shoot grows only from green tissue. This is not a nutrient disorder or infection. Separate or remove green growth only if retaining the yellow-edged form is the aim.
• A soft base or rhizome: A leaf that loosens from dark, translucent or mushy tissue has lost healthy support. Stop watering, remove the wet substrate and inspect the roots and rhizomes. Retain firm rooted divisions, remove fully collapsed tissue with a clean tool and restart them in an open mix after the cut surfaces have dried.
• Round wet-looking spots continue to enlarge: Keep the foliage dry and set the plant apart while a lesion is moving. Remove a badly affected leaf with a clean tool and improve gentle airflow. A dry old scar whose boundary stays fixed needs no disease treatment.
• Yellowing or wilt: A dry throughout rootball with firm roots points toward water shortage or water bypassing the root mass. When yellowing develops while the mix stays wet, check the roots, rhizome, temperature and drainage. Do not add more water to a wilted plant until the condition of the roots is known.
• Mealybugs or scale: Inspect both leaf surfaces, the overlapping bases and the rhizomes for cottony wax, insects or detachable scale covers. Honeydew and sooty mould suggest a sap feeder, although scale insects with hard covers may produce neither. Remove visible pests, then choose a houseplant control whose label covers the insect found. Treat both leaf faces and the overlapping bases, and reinspect at the stated interval.
• Leaning, bleaching or old scars: A gradual lean can come from one-sided light, but wobbling with a soft base suggests lost roots. Sudden pale patches on the window-facing surface fit light or heat injury, while dark, water-soaked patches after chilling fit cold damage. Existing dead tissue will not turn green after the cause is corrected.

Dracaena (Sansevieria) trifasciata ‘Laurentii’ is toxic to people and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• It contains saponins that can irritate the mouth and digestive tract.
• Chewing may cause drooling, vomiting, stomach pain, reduced appetite or weakness. Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop.

About the names Sansevieria trifasciata and Dracaena trifasciata

Dracaena comes from Greek drakaina, meaning a female dragon. The epithet trifasciata means three-banded.

Carl Linnaeus established the genus Dracaena in 1767 in Mantissa Plantarum, page 9; Domenico Vandelli had proposed the name.

David Prain first described it as Sansevieria trifasciata in 1903 in Bengal Plants, volume 2, page 1054. David Mabberley later placed it in Dracaena as Dracaena trifasciata in 2017 in Mabberley’s Plant-book, edition 4, page 1101.

Sansevieria remains common in horticulture. Pei-Luen Lu and Clifford Morden showed that it belongs within Dracaena in a 2014 DNA study in Systematic Botany, volume 39. Kew’s World Checklist treats Sansevieria trifasciata as a synonym of Dracaena trifasciata.