Goddumanji / Snake Plant
Sansevieria trifasciata
Also known as Mother-In-Law's Tongue
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- Rarely flowers in cultivation
How to identify Goddumanji
Identify Goddumanji by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Stiff upright mottled banded leaves (snake plant).
- Confirm leaf arrangement: Basal.
- Confirm leaf shape: Rigid sword-shaped.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Rarely flowers in cultivation.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Agavaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Goddumanji.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Sansevieria trifasciata
- Genus
- Dracaena
- Family
- Agavaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Cultivated as ornamental; tolerates low light and drought
- Habitat type
- Cultivated
- Native to
- West Africa (Nigeria to Congo)
- Distribution
- Native to West Africa; cultivated globally
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Telangana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Delhi, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab
- Flowering & fruiting
- Rarely flowers in cultivation
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf arrangement
- BasalrecordedLeaves cluster at the base of the plant rather than along a stem.“Its stiff leaves grow vertically from a basal rosette.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf shape
- Rigid sword-shapedrecorded
Typical of the family
Characters marked “recorded” are for Goddumanji itself; the rest are typical of the Agavaceae family.
Local Names
- Mizo
- Rullei
- Kannada
- ಗೊಡ್ಡುಮಂಜಿ Goddumanji, ಮಂಜಿನನಾರು Manjina naaru, ಹೆಗ್ಗುರಂಟಿಕೆ Heggurantike
About Goddumanji
A member of the Agavaceae family, Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and 18 other states. It is cultivated as ornamental; tolerates low light and drought. It rarely flowers in cultivation.
Uses
Locally it is planted as an ornamental and stripped for fibre used in rope and matting. Parts of this plant are reported as poisonous — treat it as unsafe to eat and wash your hands after handling.
In culture
It turns up in ritual and festival use.
Agavaceae
Agave Family
Goddumanji belongs to the Agavaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Agavaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides