Starfish Snakeplant

Common name for a drought-tolerant succulent with the botanical names Dracaena angolensis and Sansevieria cylindrica. It has thick, cylindrical, slightly curving, spike-like leaves, and is in Thailand often seen as an ornamental  outdoor pot plant. There are several varieties and also similar species, such as the Sansevieria stuckyi, which grows much taller and slimmer. It is also commonly known as Starfish Sansevieria, Cylindrical Snakeplant, African Spear, Spear Sansevieria, and in Brazil as Saint Barbara Sword, after Barbara of Nicomedia, the daughter of Dioscorus, a 3rd century pagan nobleman, who hid away from her admirers in a tower and whom secretly converted to Christianity when outside on an occasional trip urged on by her father in the hope to marry her off; enraged by her conversion her father had her tortured time and again, yet her wounds always healed miraculously overnight, so her father eventually beheaded her himself. Often spelled Starfish Snake Plant. In Thai, it is known as ton nga chang, literally ‘elephant tusk plant’. 回