Species
+

Dracaena trifasciata (Prain) Mabb.

Langue à la belle-méthe, Snake plant, Mother-in-law's tongue, Viper's bowstring hemp, Snake Sansevieria, Bowstring hemp, Good luck plant, Mother-in-law's nose

Climate known 3 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dracaena trifasciata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to tropical West Africa from Nigeria east to the Congo. It is most commonly known as the snake plant, Saint George's sword, mother-in-law's tongue, and viper's bowstring hemp, among other names. Until 2017, it was known under the synonym Sansevieria trifasciata. This plant is often kept as a houseplant due to its non-demanding maintenance; they can survive with very little water and sun.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dracaena trifasciata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
(Prain) Mabb.
Native to
Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon +5
Wild records
47 in range· 26 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Feb, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1322mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 188 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Dracaena trifasciata specifically, which is the exception in its genus (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to May and September to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1322 mm a year, wettest October at 188 mm, driest July at 28 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Aletris hyacinthoides var. zeylanica L.; Sansevieria laurentii DeWild.; Sansevieria trifasciata Prain; Sansevieria trifasciata subsp. laurentii (De Wild.) N.E.Br.; Sansevieria trifasciata var. trifasciata and 1 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Dracaena trifasciata specifically, which is the exception in its genus (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to May and September to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (944 mm of 1322 mm) falls in March to May and September to November. The temperature curve is flat, 1.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1322 mm a year, wettest October at 188 mm, driest July at 28 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1322 mm a year at the habitat, 944 mm of it March to May and September to November. Wettest month October at 188 mm, driest July at 28 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 804 mm to 1990 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 16.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 16.4 °C, the absolute minimum 13.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 13.4 °C to 22.8 °C), warmest day 29.4 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jul to 29 °C in Feb; mean night from 19 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1322 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 44 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 13.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)13.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 30–37RH 61–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 44 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 24–3129 / 25–3229 / 24–3128 / 23–3028 / 23–3027 / 22–3027 / 21–2927 / 21–2927 / 23–3028 / 22–3028 / 23–2928 / 23–30
Night °C19 / 13–2320 / 14–2321 / 14–2421 / 14–2421 / 14–2420 / 13–2320 / 12–2220 / 12–2220 / 12–2220 / 14–2320 / 14–2319 / 13–23
Rain mm73 / 12–15872 / 23–156143 / 77–190177 / 116–274161 / 75–24964 / 14–18728 / 7–18641 / 10–228140 / 19–219188 / 28–308135 / 53–239100 / 14–159
DLI36 / 30–4137 / 32–4335 / 32–4133 / 31–3831 / 29–3630 / 26–3530 / 24–3430 / 24–3634 / 27–4033 / 27–4132 / 29–3933 / 29–38
RH %61 / 56–6661 / 54–6664 / 57–6866 / 60–7067 / 58–7162 / 55–7162 / 52–7163 / 52–7163 / 54–7166 / 54–7265 / 58–7164 / 56–68

Each figure is the median across the 44 grid cells holding the 47 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1857:3872 (-2.875, 13.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 44 distinct grid cells holding the 47 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1857:3872 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -3.00_13.750, lapse-corrected +18 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 591 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre, Tanzania· introduced: Tunisia, Canary Is., Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Rwanda, Ascension, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Andaman Is., Myanmar, Malaya, Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., Queensland, Fiji, Nauru, Niue, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Florida, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Ecuador, Galápagos
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-1.253, 36.81 · in the densest population, 22 records (47% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 47 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 26 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2766 km away. 1596 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 47 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dracaena trifasciataDracaena trifasciata

Photographs: ravi suman, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Tronco Maria, CC BY-SA, via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dracaena trifasciata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Supercritical CO2 mediated construction of aluminium waste recovered γ-Al2O3 impregnated Dracaena trifasciata biomass-derived carbon composite: A robust electrocatalyst for mutagenic pollutant detection
Sabarison Pandiyarajan, Shobana Sebastin Mary Manickaraj, Ai‐Ho Liao, Gopinath Baskaran (2023) · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
First Report of Soft Rot Caused by Aspergillus niger Sensu Lato on Mother-in-Law’s Tongue in China
Siliang Huang, Xueling Zheng, Di Yang, Jinpin An (2020) · Plant Disease
Phytochemical Constituent, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Leaves of Dracaena trifasciata (Prain) Mabb.
Whika Febria Dewatisari, Nelsiani To’bungan (2024) · Jurnal Biodjati
Review: Phytochemistry and ethnopharmacology of Dracaena trifasciata
Whika Febria Dewatisari, Nelsiani To’bungan (2024) · Nusantara Bioscience
Review on -Draceana Trifasciata
K Abhishek, Harshith Kumar R, Rakesh Kumar Jat (2024) · Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
First Report of Colletotrichum sansevieriae Causing Anthracnose of Snake Plant (Dracaena trifasciata) in Ohio and Its Draft Genome
Guillermo E. Valero David, Isabel B. Emanuel, Dana Martin, Zachary Konkel (2022) · Plant Disease
A new species of Dolichotetranychus (Trombidiformes: Tenuipalpidae) damaging Dracaena trifasciata (Asparagaceae) in Iran
Sayed Mosayeb Mahdavi, Mahdieh Asadi, Saeid Paktinat-Saeij, Mohammad Ali Ghanbarzadeh (2022) · Systematic and Applied Acarology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dracaena 8 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 132 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.