African Violet

The African violet, Streptocarpus ionanthus, is a flowering plant native to eastern and south-western Tanzania. Its synonym, Saintpaulia ionantha, from a genus no longer recognised, is the name both Cunningham and Kynes give it. It sits in the Saintpaulia section of the genus Streptocarpus, and several plants once counted as separate Saintpaulia species are now treated as its subspecies and varieties; in the wild it is rated near threatened. Its rounded, softly hairy, dark green leaves spring from a central crown, with stalks of clustered purple flowers rising among them, and in the right conditions it will flower all year indoors. Europeans came to know it through Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire, a German serving as a regional commissioner in what is now Tanzania, who, out of an interest in botany, carried samples home to Hanover for a friend at its royal botanical gardens; it quickly became a much-loved houseplant, now grown in many sizes, shapes and colours. Its species name means violet-coloured flowers. In magic it belongs to the home. Cunningham grows the purple-flowered plants indoors to encourage spirituality and finds them mildly protective. Kynes says they raise the energy of a house and draw blessings in: set a flowering plant wherever energy needs to move, and put one with deep blue or purple flowers on the altar to lift the spiritual tone of meditation or ritual.