Why Plants Die
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African violet

Streptocarpus ionanthus, Gesneriaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Middling It gives warning, with time to act.

Also called Kenya Violet and Usambara violet.

African violet (Streptocarpus ionanthus), the whole plant.
Chandralekha CT, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Listed as non-toxic to cats by ASPCA.
  • Listed as non-toxic to dogs by ASPCA.
  • Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Sources file this plant under other names: Saintpaulia spp (ASPCA, genus only). Citations below point at the name its source uses.

Light
Medium light 100–150 fc
Clemson names the genus, not the species.
Clemson Extension, filed as Saintpaulia species, hybrids and cultivars · read 13 September 2026
Partial shade
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Moist but well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H1A — warmer than 15°C 15 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam; pH Acid or Neutral
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Listed as non-toxic
ASPCA names the genus (Saintpaulia spp.), not the species.
ASPCA, filed as Saintpaulia spp. · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Listed as non-toxic
ASPCA names the genus (Saintpaulia spp.), not the species.
ASPCA, filed as Saintpaulia spp. · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

How it usually goes wrong

Brown tips on the newest leaves first

Leaves on the side of the African violet nearest a heater or vent brown at the edges while those on the far side stay clean.

Dry air takes water from the leaf surface continuously, and the tissue at the edge is last in the queue for what the roots send up. Penn State Extension notes there is no single humidity figure that suits every indoor plant.

Telling it apart: Whether the damage advances. Dry air marks a leaf and stops; rot keeps going.

Penn State ExtensionAfrican violet brown leaf tips and edges: causes
Flowering stops while the foliage carries on

The African violet looks well in every other respect: green, firm and growing. What is missing is the flowering.

Buds are formed only when the plant has energy to spare. Its source places it in partial shade, and in less light than that the surplus that pays for flowers is missing.

Telling it apart: The rest of the plant. A healthy, leafy plant without flowers is short of light or of a season it needs; a plant that is also yellowing has a root or water problem first.

RHSAfrican violet not flowering or dropping buds: causes
Lower leaves collapse and yellow within days of a watering

Colour goes before shape on a African violet. The lowest leaves on each stem yellow evenly, stay soft to the touch, and the compost two inches down is still wet from the last watering.

The source for this plant describes moist but well-drained soil. Compost that stays saturated loses the air spaces fine roots grow into, and those roots die back first.

Telling it apart: Weigh the pot in your hand. A pot still heavy a week after watering is holding more water than the roots are using.

RHSAfrican violet leaves turning yellow: causes
The plant grows thin and sparse, and leans

Older leaves on the African violet keep their colour while each new one comes in thinner, with a longer stretch of bare stem below it.

Placed darker than the medium light its source describes, the plant invests in length rather than leaf, because length is what finds a window.

Telling it apart: Whether old growth is affected. Light shows in what arrives next; feeding shows in what is already there.

Clemson ExtensionAfrican violet leggy, leaning growth: causes

Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for African violet.

Routine care

Watering
Water drains quickly through this mix. Water left sitting on the surface can make the plant decay.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
In winter, water sparingly as the compost dries; in the growing season, water generously and let the compost dry between waterings. Feed every two weeks with a high-potassium fertiliser.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Feeding
In winter give little water as the compost dries; in the growing season water generously but let the compost dry between waterings. Every two weeks, give a high-potassium fertiliser.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Leaf cuttings
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Take leaf cuttings in summer.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pruning
Take off dead leaves.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by mealybugs.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Can be troubled by tarsonemid mite, vine weevil, thrips, mealybugs and glasshouse leafhoppers. Diseases: powdery mildews or grey moulds (botrytis).
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Flowers of African violet (Streptocarpus ionanthus).
FlowersGabriel Collares, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
African violet (Streptocarpus ionanthus) growing in a pot.
In a potCekli829, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Streptocarpus ionanthus is a species of Streptocarpus in the section Saintpaulia, commonly known as an African violet. It is native to eastern and southwestern Tanzania.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
E. & SW. Tanzania
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Eastern & South Western Tanzania
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Tanzania
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
lithophyte
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Herbaceous Perennial; habit clumping, mounding
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Matforming (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 6–9 in; width 6–9 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Height Up to 10 cm; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 2–5 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers blue, pink, purple/lavender, white; blooms in fall, spring, summer, winter
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowers blue in spring, summer, autumn and winter; purple in spring, summer, autumn and winter
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Common problems with African violet

Other Streptocarpus

More of the Gesneriaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.