Writing in the New Zealand Cactus and Succulent Journal in 2018, Colin Walker says:
"This species has been in cultivation since the 1950s and was known as Sansevieria ‘Baseball Bat’ because of the leaf shape, until it was formally
described as Sansevieria hallii by Chahinian (1996).
I have grown this species for 25 years with my original plant being a gift from Juan Chahinian three years before he had published the
name. In my care it is fairly slowgrowing, again like S. hargeisana, making it a desirable plant for those with limited space. Fig. 2 shows
a young plant growing in a pale speckled coffee-coloured pot. It has immature tongue-shaped leaves in the centre and the stem is a rhizome,
growing mostly underground, but a small piece of above-ground stem also shown in Fig. 2. Mature leaves are highly succulent and indeed baseball bat-shaped. In my largest
specimen leaves are at most 30cm long, but are recorded to grow up to 60 cm or more in length. These have a deep round channel with acute membranous edges, pronounced
longitudinal lines with somewhat indistinct horizontal banding and a roughened surface.
Surprisingly I have only flowered this species once (Fig. 3). It belongs to a group of about 10 species in the genus that produce capitate inflorescences with the flowers
clustered into a single “head”, unlike the majority of sansevierias that have tall, elongated flower spikes. The inflorescence is produced below soil
level with each flower being about 10 cm long, white with a pink tinge and a slight fragrance reminiscent of the scent of hyacinth. As with all
sansevierias, individual flowers open in the evening and last only a single night. It was suggested by Chahinian (1996) that flowers produced at
ground level might suggest a mammal as the pollinator, although as far as I am aware there is as yet no evidence to support this proposal, hence
field observations are needed to confirm or refute this hypothesis. In contrast, moths have been observed as pollinators of other sansevierias
producing tall inflorescences bearing nocturnally-opening flowers.
Sansevieria hallii was originally described from south east Zimbabwe but is now known to occur in northern South Africa (van Jaarsveld, 2016). Similar plants, yet to be
formally identified as this species, have also been found in central Mozambique (Rulkens & Baptista, 2009), so it is possible that it might
turn out to be moderately widespread across south east Africa. The species is reasonably variable and a number of cultivars are available at least in
the UK and USA including ‘Blue Bat’, ‘Lundi Bat’ and ‘Pink Bat’, but I know nothing about their availability in New Zealand.
The species name commemorates Harry Hall (1906–1986) who collected the original plant. He was a British succulent plant enthusiast
who spent half his life in South Africa as curator of succulents at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden, Cape Town.
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