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Gloriosa
Also called Flame Lilies
Gloriosa is a genus of about 12 species of tuberous, climbing lilies with showy Turk's cap-style flowers, mainly the commonly grown Gloriosa superba. Grow them with a warm, frost-free season and a dormant dry period, supporting the vines with a trellis.
Gloriosa is a genus of 12 species in the plant family Colchicaceae, and includes the formerly recognised genus Littonia. They are native in tropical and southern Africa to Asia, and naturalised in Australia and the Pacific as well as being widely cultivated.
They are tender, tuberous rooted deciduous perennials, adapted to monsoon rainfall with a dormant dry season. All parts of the plant contain colchicine and related alkaloids and are therefore dangerously toxic if ingested, and contact with the stems and leaves can cause skin irritation. Various preparations of the plant are used in traditional medicines for a variety of complaints in both Africa and Asia. Plants have leaf tip tendrils.
"Propagation generally occurs from seeds, although mature plants can be divided and grown from tubers. The hard seeds can remain dormant for 6-9 months." Growth stops if temperatures are of the order of 15 °C (59 °F) and the plant dies when subjected to 12 °C (54 °F) during this time. La Gloriosa is an extremely fragile and delicate flower, tough to cultivate.
All parts of Gloriosa contain colchicine, the roots and seeds are especially rich. The lethal dose of colchicine is about 6 mg/kg, and Gloriosa superba has been used as a means of committing suicide.
The genus is widely distributed in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Indian subcontinent to Malesia. Gloriosa superba in particular is widely naturalized. In Australia, "scattered naturalized populations exist in the understorey of coastal dry sclerophyll forest and sand dune vegetation throughout south-east Queensland and New South Wales". It is considered a rampant and dangerous invasive weed in Australia, dominating the coastal dunes at the expense of native species and leading to deaths of native animals and birds when ingested.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gloriosa (plant) by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
