I'm with Jim Mckenney on this. I've never seen a reference to actually eating them other than "they look good enough to eat" I do have a personal recollection from a Dutch economist who used to bicycle for miles to gather them from abandoned bulb fields during the famines of WWII. He said that if they were not boiled for at least 2 hours and the water drained off periodiclaly , one got terrible griping diarrhea from eating them. But they were better than bark from trees. Eremurus might not ship very well, because the tuberous fleshy roots are fragile and not strongly connected to the central axis. I remember getting a shipment from Turkmenistan which were all rotted due to breakage of the roots from the central axis. They had been about 18" across before they broke. I'd be interested to know how such a geophyte could be packed for intercontinental shipment without damage. Or are only smaller ones usually shipped? And thanks, Diana for what I iwll regard as a definitive answer to the shrinking Hippeastrum bulbs. And I'm wondering why I didn't figure it out for myself. I tried for years:-- wasn't observant I guess ,or there was a cerebral disconnect between the eyes and the frontal lobe. Might try it again. And give them substantially more nourishment this time. Adam in Glenview, IL, USDA Zone 5a, where maybe it'll only be a 7a equivalent this year and a couple of Zantedeschias will come through the winter again.