Click on images to enlarge
infestation in riparian woodland (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
small population growing from a garden dumping (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit in flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
piece of underground stem and roots (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
elongated fleshy variegated leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of leaves with reddish-orange coloured margins (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
elongated flower clusters (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flower buds (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
young shoot emerging through bitumin (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Scientific Name
Sansevieria liberica Gérôme & Labroy
Family
Dracaenaceae (New South Wales and Queensland)Liliaceae (Northern Territory)
Common Names
African bow-string hemp, African bowstring hemp, bow-string hemp, bowstring hemp, leopard lily, mother-in-law's tongue, snake plant
Origin
Native to tropical western Africa (i.e. from Morocco to Chad) and also extending into some parts of central and eastern Africa (i.e. the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania).
Naturalised Distribution
Locally naturalised in south-eastern Queensland, but may be more widespread than current records indicate as it is easily mistaken for mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata).
Notes
African bowstring hemp (Sansevieria liberica) is an emerging environmental weed in Queensland, which causes similar problems to mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata ). This succulent species is commonly cultivated as a garden plant and is regularly dumped in garden waste, from where it spreads into bushland and forms dense colonies. For example, a large population is present in open woodland vegetation in the Enoggera Creek Reserve in Ashgrove in Brisbane. Photographic evidence would also seem to suggest that naturalised populations may also be present in the Townsville region (e.g. on Magnetic Island).
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