The Splendid Sanseveria book - Chahinian

Just noticed this softcover book (2005) for roughly $40. Google tells me is may not be worth getting. Any thoughts?

This message was edited Oct 10, 2009 12:34 PM

Gee, I've never heard that. That book and one other by the same author are the only ones written about the genus. Where did you see that it wasn't worth getting?

He has written many books. Most cost $200 +.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sansevieria/msg1019013827194.html

This message was edited Oct 10, 2009 1:05 PM

Wow, I'm certainly glad you provided that reference. Even taking out the multiple comments by one user, the consensus is clear. I've been tossing around getting The Splendid Sansevieria - thanks to you, I won't. I did meet him at one time - he's quite eccentric.

I didn't know he'd written about anything other than Sansevieria - the two books, plus Journal articles. I tried to look him up in bookfinder.com, but saw no books for sale other than one of the two on Sansevieria. The others must be way out of print and very hard to find.

Hello Marilyn! Nice to see you posting! Yes, that is the "novice" (not) Norma Lewis posting there. She's probably forgotten more about Sansevierias than anyone I know.
I have The Sansevieria Book by Hermine Stover. At one time it was available to download free on the Internet. Don't know if it still is out there or not. I also have a photocopy of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew XXI - Sansevieria - a monograph of all the known species (with plates) by N.E. Brown (1915!?) . Don't recall where I got that - maybe from Norma.
Actually I gave up long ago trying to keep Sansevierias straight. I'm down to maybe a dozen now and have actually put some in the ground and they are doing fine. The rest are a pain because I have to move them from a lath house to our patio for over winter. They apparently don't want to go below 50 degrees and very little water over winter, but no one seems to have told those in the ground that fact.

Hi, Harold! Nice to hear from you too. I knew the name of the person to whom I referred; I just didn't want to get into another argument. :>( Thanks for the info re other Sansevieria publications. I'll look them up and maybe get them. Do they have good pictures? I know the photocopy will be black and white, but at least one could see the forms.

It's great to hear that there are some Sans that can withstand colder weather. Most are more known for needing 50F or so, right? I'm just a novice (LOL!!) and don't currently have any because I don't have room in my house.

Marilyn

Gee thanks Harold for the compliment. You never knew me.
Juan only published two books out of his own money.
Hermines book may still be free but completely out of date.
I didn't forget a thing.
Yes I provided that publication from Kew at my cost of printing. Had it printed off at Kinko.
Juan's pictures are very sharp, but now the names have recently been changed again, long after the printing of Juan's book. Juan as published San. Journals, and not any more books. He is working on his third book at this time, and none of his book were any where near $200. The Journals are not available that I know of, and I would need Juan's permission to print them. Hermine published her black and white home published book which at the time was way before any one else collected San. or sold them. he was the first in this country to do so. Juan got his Gray Lady from me at that time, and obtained many for Hermine / Lillian True/ Lee Eby, etc. and others for his first collection. I did the same thing only I started in 1978 with San. patuala from the Vincent Price Estate. I had it for several years until Juan told me the name of this plant.
When I packed Juan's plants up for him to move to Florida which took a week, he gave me 60 plants or leaves to start. I had also received 60 from the Huntington Gardens, which brought my count up to 120 documented and named plants, since then I have about 300+ named and documented Sans. Still collecting.
How's that for memory? [:o} Smiley face
Norma

This message was edited Oct 10, 2009 6:37 PM

This message was edited Oct 10, 2009 6:38 PM

This message was edited Oct 11, 2009 10:33 PM

Its not my intention to start any arguments here, but I would advise that everybody on this thread go back and re-read Norma's post, she holds a vast knowledge and expertise on Sanseverias and doesn't forget anything. With that said, on several occasions Norma has taken me on tour, in her lath house, which contains hundreds upon hunndreds of Sans. I would say, Norma holds one of the largest Sans collection I have ever seen anywhere in the So. Calif. area.

Doug

I was recently given this book.