Their natural flowering time is autumn, and, as there are few flowering pot plants sufficiently obliging to produce their flowers during these months, it is a pity that smithianthas are not more well-known and more widely-grown.
Smithianthas are tuberous-rooted plants, and the tubers or rhizomes form at the base of the main stem. The tubers are an elongated cone shape, with a white scaly appearance and usually about Vi - lin (13 - 25 mm) long. Each plant produces an average of some three tubers by the end of the season, and, as each tuber will produce a new plant the following year, you can appreciate that there is no need to propagate by any other means in order to maintain a collection of these plants. Smithianthas can be grown from seed or tubers, but as the latter are usually obtainable it is preferable to buy tubers.
