Snake plant flowering | The Beauty Of The Rare Occurrence |

Snake plant flowering is a rare circumstance which does not happen more frequently. Usually, snakes plant flowers in springtime.

Chances are that you may even grow a snake plant for so many years without knowing that they could bloom. 

Snake plants could be fantastic indoor growing plants as well. They would be useful for freshers in gardening as they require only a minimal attention from you. 

Even though it is quite rare to witness them blooming, they could sometimes flower on one fine day.

snake plant flowering

Why is snake plant flowering?

Snake plants could multiply rapidly and could thrive well even if we neglect them to a greater extent.

Literally, if you neglect them, it could stimulate the plant to bloom. 

Once you provide the plants with a minimal amount of water and a lot of intense sunlight, they could spread faster and consequently it could cause them to become root bound too.

This is what encourages the snake plant to flower. In fact, when they feel like they are neglected they get an impression that they are going to perish from drought.

That encourages the plant to make flowers (seeds) to spread and to take root and survive

Even though we need to be nice and attentive towards the plants which we grow, snake plants would survive well in a neglecting situation.

Snake plants will form a flower stalk once it is mildly and stressed regularly. You could spot these once the plants become root bound.

Their blooms will not damage your plant. It will be a treat to watch them in full blossom and something which you should not miss watching unless it could take even several years to watch them blooming again.

What do snake plant flowers look like?

Snake plants usually tend to grow their flowers on a longer flower stalk. The stalk could be about 3 feet long. 

Further you could spot them covered in dozens of flower buds as well. They will consist of narrow petals and tend to grow in clusters. 

Chances are that they could contain more than one stalk too. That is something which could happen very hard though.

Moreover, their flowers would be white or even cream colored. Once they completely open, they will resemble lilies. They look thin and attractive.

What do snake plant flowers smell like?

Snake plant blooms contain a strong scent during nighttime. 

Further they consist of very sweet, sticky nectar which look like dew droplets on the flower stems. 

During the daytime, blooms close and tend to open during the nighttime. The snake plant’s fragrance would be strong and pleasing. 

It could even be attractive towards the pests sometimes. Pests tend to land on these plants due to the strong fragrance those flowers have.

How long do snake plant flowers last?

Generally, snake plant flowers could last for a few weeks

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Having said that, once they perish, it is vital that you make the necessary arrangements to prune the flower stalks. So that they can save some energy and will simultaneously make the plant look neat and pretty too. 

Snake plant flower toxicity

Snake plants could be poisonous for domestic pets such cats and dogs. When it comes to humans, toxicity could be low level to not toxic at all

Snake plants consist of saponins such as natural insecticides and fungicides. Those saponins are poisonous for all living beings and could cause gastronomical reactions. 

The reactions would be such as vomiting or diarrhea in both humans and animals once they consume it and ingest it.

Apart from that, there could be repercussions such as dermatitis too. Dermatitis is a skin rash or irritative action. Plants juice mainly affects this condition.

It will be risky for both humans and for animals if they chew or ingest any part of the plant. In case they do, it could cause a swelling of the oral cavity tissues and in the esophagus. 

Furthermore, if you consume the plant in big quantities, it could be even lethal for your domestic pets.

You could find saponin toxins in the whole plant and especially in their flowers.

snake plant flowering

Are snake plant flowers lucky?

Snake plant flowers are regarded as lucky. 

If you locate it in a perfect position, it is said to be a plant which brings good fortune. That is because it could take in all poisonous gases from the air and eradicate the toxins and could purify the air.  

In addition to that, it could even exude strong protective energy among the people too. it brings a strong and a positive vibe into the environment as well.

Parts of snake plant flower 

Stalk

Once the snake plant blooms, their flowers usually grow on the long and straightforward flower stalks.  Their flower stalks could rise to 3 feet which is approximately about 1 meter. 

They would further grow with tiny flowers. Each stalk could form dozens of flower buds which you could spot in tubular form. They would look like lilies.

Nectar

They would generally consist of a sticky nectar. You could often spot them as dew droplets on the plant stems.

sap

Sap is usually included in the snake plant’s leaves. Bugs tend to absorb the sap of the plant once they invade the snake plants and as a repercussion of this, brown spots occur. 

How to make snake plant flowers?

Once you take the snake plant outdoors after the winter season is over, you should ideally move it to a partially sunny location outdoors

During wintertime, usually you have to take your snake plants indoors as it is a semi tropical plant, and it cannot withstand the frost situations and colder temperatures.

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Next during summer, you should apply fertilizers for them. 

Thirdly, refrain from watering them. The reason for that is because the snake plants which grow outdoors do not require watering externally as they could survive with regular rainfall.

On the other hand, it is essential for us to provide them with a pot which has enough draining holes along with a well-draining soil mix as they are also a succulent type, and it could retain water in their leaves. 

If we provide them with those conditions, they could sustain periodic rainfalls daily without any issues.

This is what encourages the snake plant to flower. 

In fact, when they feel like they are neglected they get an impression that they are going to perish. That encourages the plant to make flowers (seeds) to spread and to take root and survive. 

Even though we need to be nice and attentive towards the plants which we grow, snake plants would survive well in a neglecting situation and they would further form a spike of creamy white bloom in a tubular formation. 

Once autumn arrives, you should relocate it indoors.

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Different types of snake plant flowers

Cylindrical snake plant flower

These flower are from Cylindrical African spear plant. Some of the common name of this plant are  African Spear, Skyline Spear Sansevieria, Cylindrical Mother in Laws tongue, Spear orchid etc. 

When they mature, they tend to remain shorter and tend to look more compact. They would look very attractive if you grow them in  tiny pots.

In terms of their size and growth, they generally tend to grow straightforwardly. They are known as relatively slow growing succulents.  

They would consist of leaves which would be stiff, and which would be about 4’ in length.  Further They would be about 1 foot wide too.

The succulent leaves would tend to form in a circular manner and tend to taper slowly. When they do like that, you could categorize them by looking at their leaves. 

In fact, their leaves would have a fan shape.  Moreover, they would have stiff dark cylindrical green leaves too. You could spot the snake plant flower spikes forming on the older plants from their leaf base.

Those flower spikes tend to grow clusters of bloom. You could spot them usually in green, white colors. They would further look in tubular shape. 

Moreover, they would have some shades of pink as well.  On the other hand, they would carry a pleasing scent as well. Furthermore, they would carry tiny berries too. 

Those berries would be 0.4 ‘in length and orange to red in color. 

Starfish snake plant flower

Starfish snake plants are somewhat rarer than the rest of the other snake plants. This belongs to the family Asparagaceae. 

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This is an evergreen perennial succulent plant which we could find in Angola. This variety of snake plant does not grow tall like the other regular snake plants. one more interesting characteristic of these plants is their distinctive hand-shaped spread.

Some of the common names of these starfish snake plants are such as Boncel snake plant, spear orchid, skyline spear, African spear plant etc. 

These plants are generally fat  and short. They could rise to 8 inches in height if it does not form a flower spike. They have a slow growth rate and leaves in round shape. 

Their leaves form in an upward manner in a fan pattern from one major central rosette.

If you provide a proper level of light condition and if you feed them on and off as appropriately, plants will usually grow faster and rapidly. 

It will further tend to form a long raceme of blooms. That could arise about three feet above the plant leaves. It could contain pink buds which will open with flowers in white. 

None of them will carry any sweet fragrance though. In case, they carry any fragrance, it could mist probably due to a pest attack aor due to a bug issue. 

moonshine snake plant flower

This also belongs to the family Asparagaceae. This is quite popular as an indoor grown succulent type. 

This is endemic to west Africa, Nigeria and to Congo as well. Some of the common names which you could use to call them would be Sansevieria Futura Silver Offset, Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Moonshine, moonshine snake plant, moonlight snake plant etc.

They have inherited these names due to their succulent leaves formation which you could spot in silver green color. Sansevieria moonshine plants’ height would be 2’ feet once they fully mature. 

You could spot them with lines of faint dark green colors as well.

They also bloom very hard, but once they flower, you could spot their flowers in white, and they would even carry a light scent as well.

Can The Flower Be Used In Flower Arrangements?

Despite how attractive and beautiful these flowers are, it is not possible to utilize them for flower arrangements.

You could only watch them and enjoy the pretty sight when they start to bloom.

Do snake plants die after flowering?

They do not die after flowering.  In fact, their blooms transform into berries which you could spot them in orange. 

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Conclusion

Snake plant flowering is considered a rare occurrence. Usually snake plant flowers in spring time.

When the time comes, snake plants produce dozens of white colored (lily like) flowers at the end of a long stalk.

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About author

I’m Dr. Chamika, As a hobby love talking about plants and showing you that taking care of indoor plants. My website is knowledge I’ve learned over the years and continue to learn about growing succulents. If you’re a succulent lover, then you have come to the correct place.