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The flaming beauty

Photo: G.S Unnikrishnan

Colourful bloom Glory lily makes excellent cut flower in floral arrangements

The botanical name of Glory lily, Gloriosa superba, can be paraphrased as gloriously superb. It is called ‘Menthonn’ in Malayalam. Glory lily is a beautiful garden plant as well as a source of valuable medical compounds . It originated in tropical Africa and Asia. Glory lily is the national flower of Zimbabwe and the State flower of Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala, the plant is seen growing in gardens. It is propagated using the country-plough shaped underground tubers. It produces weak, trailing stems clothed with glossy, lush green whorled leaves which are tipped at the ends with tendrils to aid in climbing. The fast growing annual vines can climb up to eight feet on a fence or trellis. It grows well in rich, light soils.

Gloriosa is cultivated commercially in States like Tamil Nadu mainly for its seeds and rhizomes. Rhizomes are planted horizontally on the ground before the rains, during the month of May.

Blooming in summer, are the lily-like flowers with wavy-edged petals that are crimson red, with yellow base and edged with bright yellow making the blossoms look like they are on fire. The green stamens are prominent.

Gloriosa makes an outstanding cut flower in floral arrangements. It is also a popular plant for providing colour in greenhouses and conservatories.

All parts of the plant contain colchicine and related medicinal alkaloids that are dangerously toxic if ingested. Contact with the stems and leaves can cause skin irritation.

Gloriosa rhizome is said to be a tonic and purgative. Drugs made out of the dried rhizomes are used for chronic ulcers and piles.

Externally it is used to cure parasitical skin diseases and as a relief from neuralgic pains. The juice of the leaf is used to kill lice and to repel mosquitoes. The sap from the tip of the leaf is used to treat pimple and skin eruptions.

Colchicine is used by plant breeders to double up the chromosomes in a plant’s DNA during plant hybridization.

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