It looks like several that I have, Pearsonii, 'Patens" Ehrenbergii, and several others. I need to feel the plant, the picture, doesn't do it for me. I need to see the tips and have measurments, count the grooves on the leaves. etc. I am interested in the plants he wants to get rid of. I am still looking for certain species. But if he doesn't know this one then how can I be sure of what he has, if he has plants that are documented that would be of help, or even where he got them. There are several that I am still missing. Thanks, Norma

Hi Norma,

He probably did rattle off the species to me (he doesn't keep tags in his plants, but seems to know the names...) but if I call him, he won't remember what I got, so figured that avenue was moot. Unfortunately, he isn't online, so couldn't send you photos. If I have a chance to get back out there (he's about 30 miles from me), I'll try to get some pics and take a notebook to get some names from him. He's got some real unusual stuff, and a LOT of Sans that he says he won't part with. But they're all so HUGE, that I'm betting he'd part with an offset of almost any of them...

As for mine, let me do some notes on the finer aspects of it and I'll come back later with the info. Maybe you can help further...

Denise in Omaha

Ok, Norma, in looking at photos of the three you named off, I'm believing it's probably pearsonii. Patens looks like it has shorter, somewhat stouter leaves, a little lighter in color. (One I must pursue, now that I've seen it!) And ehrenbergii looks like it tends to grow in a stacking manner, which this one doesn't. (That one's a beauty, too!) There are 5 ridges (in addition to the "dip" where the next leaf forms) on this one. For now, I'll tag it tenatively as pearsonii. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Denise in Omaha

Hi Denise,
I have a patens leaf if you want to try it. As for short and stout. I have seen one with leaves which were about 2-3 ft long. I'm assuming that it was a mature plant which wasn't allowed to pup. Mine has leaves about 15 inches. Leaf length seems to be variable at least on the patens.

There may be two forms of it, one with straight leaves the other bent back curved. This last one is called 'Ed Eby' of Koko Crater fame. We have never seen the real species. Denise if you mail a good picture direcly to me, I can ask John Trager, there are too many that have leaves like that. How long are the leaves, and do the bend backward, it not it could also be
S. ehrenbergii, or even S. pearsonii How thick are the leaves about 8" from the bottom , describe the apex. Does it have a channel and how wide? I tnik JT can pin this down, Norma

I thought "Ed Eby" was the variegated form of patens? I guess I was wrong on that one. I have the form that Grigsby grows. However the one with the super long leaves also came from Grigsby and was a fan, not a curved fan.

S. patens does not grow in a fan. Patens may be S. ehrenbergii or S. rorida, which does grow fan like. None of us are sure if the real 'Patens' ever reached this country.
S. patens from Koko Crater of Hawaii (USDA) was later named recently in honor of 'Ed Eby' who really didn't find it, Alice Waidhoffer did. The HBG had her propagate it and the Huntington Gardens introduced the plant. It was an ISI plants years ago. I actually had her write a letter to me telling the story of how it was found, this is deposited at the Huntington Gardens files. I believe Ed Eby was the Curator at the time, and was responsible for making it into a National Park to protect the plants that were there. That was the story I was given. I want you to know because I don't want it forgotten, you are all the keepers of this information, and where it is. The National Park is Foster of Hawaii.This is from memory, Norma

Norma,
I wonder if Ed Eby's son could elaborate on this? He and his sister live not far from here. I met them not long ago. I would really be interested if you posted the story. It sounds facinating. I have both Koko and Patens, they really don't look to dissimilar to me, but I'm still a novice Sans grower.