Sansevieria pearsonii flowers

The flowers of Sansevieria pearsonii show why the plant was earlier classified among the lilies, a member of the Liliaceae family. After also spending time in the Dracaenaceae or dragon-tree family and in all of the Amaryllidaceae, Agavaceae and Asparagaceae families, it is for now part of the Ruscaceae family.

Without passports, some plants will keep travelling within the botanical classification system. This happens these days whenever the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group replaces its APG classification. This has so far happened three times after the initial 1998 one, the last one, APG IV, happening in 2016. The informal, international group of botanists meeting to do this gain consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants, moving plants in accordance with the growing body of botanical knowledge, taking latest argumentation into account. 

This is progress. It is also progress when people exercise their minds to memorise new information about the changing world they live in, including the latest agreed names of their favourite species and their family trees, as this result reflects the accumulated information best. It is furthermore progress when additional information becoming available supersedes the existing classification.

Living systems, including their complex range of taxa, change as climates, environments and ecological niches evolve, always leaving umpteen grey areas between the best chosen categories of a particular time. The human system of understanding has to follow where nature leads, or lose track.

The flowers of S. pearsonii are small and many, growing from midwinter to early spring in spaced clusters on a sturdy green stem, shorter than the leaves. The flower shape is narrowly tubular with narrow, oblong tepals that shine and recurve; each with a dark line running along its centre to a rounded tip.

Flower colours of this species vary. Some are cream, pale brown or pale blue. The flowers are often open at night, maybe moth pollinated (Germishuizen and Fabian, 1982; Wikipedia; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw).