It is indeed a 'snake plant', a Sansevieria. Are you in Florida or a southern tier state? Here in Florida there are several species that have been 'naturalized' in the landscape.

For an identification, can you provide a pic of the other side of the plant? From this view the leaf looks cylindrical, but I suspect it's one of the flat leaved types. If your plant was in a group of sansevierias, what did the larger adults look like? Did they have tall, flat leaves with some lighter spots?

Russ

Nice find! I wish someone would throw out one of those by me! I agree that another view is needed to help ID your plant.

It really does look light colored like hyacinthoides, Russ. My only hesitation is the shape of the leaf. I have one of those Florida monsters and even the new growth isn't as tight as Julia's. Time will tell though as it grows out more. Hopefully Julia will post more photos so we can get a better view of it.

Hey everyone! Thanks for your input. Here are additional photos to help diagnose... We indeed picked it from Pompano, FL. The mature plants were VERY tall - approx 2-4ft. We picked a smaller one out of the bunch.

Lori or Russ, could you post a pic of yours pls? I may have received one in a trade, but it was tiny, lost its roots and is still rootless. I'm not sure what it is. I love the "tightness" of the markings in Julia's plant.

Russ you know more about this than me. I believe it only produces 3 leaves per node or stock. Common of Sansevieria guineensis (hyacinthiflora).

Katrina, I'll see if I can find mine and post a pic, Lori's might be bigger which would be a better comparison.

Below are some pics I found, but the plants I've seen in the Florida wilds in full sun have been washed out in color, much lighter green than plants in these pics.

http://www.saintlucianplants.com/cultivated/sanshyac/sanshyac.html

Stush, guineensis and hyacinthoides are different species, you might be thinking about the name-change from guineensis to metallica for that species. Chaninian says the number of leaves for hyacinthoides is 1 to 2, he says guineensis can have 1 to 3 or more. I'll be in Cocoa Beach on Sat and will check for number of leaves on the sans at the ramp that goes from condo area across the dunes and down to the ocean.

I always thought the big stands of 'escaped' sans in Florida were guineensis/metallica, but they're apparently all hyacinthoides.

Russ

Here is my hyacinthoides

The two growths in the front are this summer's. I swear they grow 6" per day!

interestingly enough, I didn't realize how much more color my leaves have. The first growth was a more solid green like Julia's so it will be interesting to see what hers becomes.

That's a good pic, I'll see what mine looks like if I can find it. I guess a tough and fast growing sans makes a good one for living in hot sun and pure sand in Florida. Katrina, how does Lori's plant compare to the one you have?

Russ

The one I have is tiny without roots so it's shriveled up. Lemme snap a pic.

Shriveled indeed! So you got this as a NOID, Katrina? Hopefully it will root and produce a plant that we can recognize, but I think hyacinthoides is a good guess at this point.

Russ

Yes, as a trade from someone on the houseplants forum some months back. It came rooted but was root less not long after.

Here are leaves of what I think is hyacinthoides, from two different plants of mine. Both were taken earlier this year from the huge wild stand at the beach ramp across from my parent's home in Cocoa Beach Fla. They were very light in color when collected, because they were in full sun and growing in pure beach sand.

Anyone wanting this sans just let me know, there are thousands and thousands of them growing at the beach ramp.

Russ

I should say that the leaf on the left is deeply curled for some reason, with the edges bending toward the camera. The other leaf is fairly flat.

Russ

This plant has very similar markings to Aubrytiana/Jaboa

I agree Katrina. I think aubrytiana's markings are brighter and contrast more with the background but pattern is very similar.

Russ