Sansevieria ehrenbergii (Blue Sansevieria, Sword Sansevieria, Oldupai, or East African Wild Sisal) is a flowering plant which grows in northeastern Africa from Libya south to Tanzania, and also in Saudi Arabia. It occurs notably in proliferation along the Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania. Mature leaves are dark green and usually range between 0.5-1.5 m in length and 2.45-8.0 cm in width. The plant grows in tight clusters and in close proximity amongst itself. Image File history File linksMetadata Sansevieria_Ehrenbergiana. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Liliopsida is the botanical name for a class. ... Families according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group Agapanthus Agavaceae Alliaceae Amaryllidaceae Aphyllanthaceae Asparagaceae Asphodelaceae Asteliaceae Blandfordiaceae Boryaceae Doryanthaceae Hemerocallidaceae Hyacinthaceae Hypoxidaceae Iridaceae Ixioliriaceae Lanariaceae Laxmanniaceae Orchidaceae Ruscaceae Tecophilaeaceae Themidaceae Xanthorrhoea Xeronema Asparagales is an order of monocots which includes a number of families of non-woody plants. ... Genera Aspidistra Beaucarnea Comosperma Convallaria Danae Dasylirion Dracaena Eriospermum Liriope Maianthemum Nolina Ophiopogon Polygonatum Ruscus Sansevieria Xeronema Ruscaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. ... Species Sansevieria is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants in the family Ruscaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Classes Magnoliopsida- Dicots Liliopsida- Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ... Olduvai Gorge from space Topography of Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches along eastern Africa. ...
History
In 1911 the German entomologist Wilhelm Kattwinkel while searching for butterflies stumbled into a gorge. He asked the indigenous Maasai people what the gorge was called. They did not understand what he was saying and thought he was referring to the plants Sansevieria ehrenbergii, to which they responded "Oldupaai". Wilhelm Kattwinkel misinterpreted and mis-pronounced what they were saying by referring to the gorge as "Olduvai Gorge". A Maasai tribesman The Maasai are an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania, are probably one of the most familiar tribes of East Africa. ...
Human Use
The Maasai have used Sansevieria ehrenbergii for the purpose of antiseptic, natural bandage, rope, baskets, roofs and clothes. In the 1970s Paleoanthropologist Bill Montagne was working in Olduvai Gorge and became injured. He received treatment in the form of a natural bandage made from Sansevieria ehrenbergii, after which he was so impressed he began pharmaceutical research.
External links
Germplasm Resources Information Network: Sansevieria ehrenbergii
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