[3] Sandersonia aurantiaca thrives in well-drained sandy soil enriched with compost and enjoys full sun, but not excessive heat (under which condition it requires frequent watering).

Herbaceous perennials, Sandersonias die back naturally at the end of the season, surviving the winter in zones 9 and 10.

The orange of the flowers of Sandersonia aurantiaca is, however, more yellow in tone than that of the inflated calyces of Physalis alkekengi (another plant known by the common name Chinese lantern).

[5] The plant has been held responsible for at least one case of fatal poisoning, the victim being an 80-year-old Japanese woman who died nine days after eating the corms, after doctors failed in their attempts to reverse the decline in her white blood cell count.

The toxic principle was determined to be colchicine, and this was the first occasion upon which the alkaloid was found to be present in Sandersonia aurantiaca.