Seldom has a botanical name been more aptly applied! The Glory Lily or Flame Lily, Gloriosa superba, must surely rank among Nature´s most flambouyant floral show-offs. But beware, for this beauty comes at a deadly price.
Fantastic Flowers
Watching the development of a Gloriosa superba bud is a true horticultural treat. During its early development, it hangs its head modestly, the pale green colouration giving no hint as to what lies in store.
As the petals open and flex outwards, they blush pink and their margins begin to crimp and curl. Rising up, they climax in a glorious flaming corona of red and yellow above a radiating star of stamens tipped with golden pollen, and a style that sweeps to one side as if it has been deliberately bent at the base.
The flower has one final surprise. As it passes maturity and starts to decline, Nature touches it once more with fire and the whole bloom glows with incandescent crimson.
A Problematical Genus
The small genus Gloriosa contains five or six species with an African and Asian distribution and is part of the family Colchicaceae, which in turn belongs to that huge clan of monocotyledons, the Liliaceae. Among the other species is the African Gloriosa modesta, which has quite distinct golden yellow flowers.
However, all is not as it might seem. Gloriosa superba is found in eastern Africa and India where it grows in open woodland, the margins of cultivated land and even along road sides. Typically, the plant produces a climbing stem several metres in length with alternate, oval to lanceolate leaves tipped with short but extremely efficient tendrils.
In practice, it is an extremely variable plant, so much so that an individual can even alter its appearance from one season to the next. Plants are erect or climbing and can vary in height from 40 cm to 4 metres, with opposite or alternate leaves that are broadly oval to linear, and with or without tendrils.
Variable Flowers
Flower colour and form are likewise bewilderingly diverse. The blooms may be a single colour or, more commonly, bicoloured in red, crimson, yellow, scarlet or dull purple, with petal margins that undulate to a greater or lesser degree or not at all. These differences have given rise to a number of synonyms including Gloriosa rothschildiana and Gloriosa lutea, and these are frequently marketed as distinct species.
Much of this confused state of affairs has been based solely on the east African populations of the glory lily, but these are now regarded as varieties of the one species.
Fatal Attraction
The glory lily is undoubtedly beautiful, but it is also dangerously poisonous. Every part of the plant, but especially the strangely elongate, "U-shaped" tubers, contain the powerful alkaloid colchicine. The colchicine contained in Gloriosa has long been an important component of traditional African and Indian medicine and the plant has been used to treat a wide range of conditions including intestinal worms, gout and skin conditions, as well as an antidote to snakebite and to induce abortion.
Colchicine also has many applications in western medicine where it has proved effective in the treatment of chronic ulcers, arthritis, kidney problems and cancer. Nethertheless, it is extremely toxic and has been used to commit suicide and murder.
The symptoms of colchicine poisoning include vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and kidney failure and even small amounts can prove fatal. Furthermore, although limited treatments do exist and recovery is possible, there is currently no known antidote.
Cultivation
Despite its darker side, it is perfectly easy and safe to grow the glory lily without succumbing to a grisly fate. Gloriosa superba and its varieties have been popular greenhouse and garden plants for many years and are freely available from nurseries and garden centres.
The long, fragile tubers of this herbaceous plant are best started off indoors in early Spring, in large pots of rich, free-draining compost containing plenty of organic matter. A sizable container is important because if space is limited, the new growth can become cramped by the sides of the pot and will grow downwards rather than up - this will provide tubers for the following year but no plants or flowers during the current season!
Plant the tubers horizontally at a depth of 8 cm. Once the shoots emerge they grow rapidly and will need to be given support for the tendrils to grip. Water and feed regularly and, when all risk of frost is over, they can be placed outside in a sheltered sunny or lightly shaded location.
Glory lilies can be grown up a trellis or other support, but they are particularly effective when allowed to meander through the branches or stems of other plants. One especially attractive choice is to grow them with the blue passion flower, Passiflora caerulea, thus creating a spectacular and unusual medley of form and colour. The blooms of Gloriosa are also a dream incarnate for floral artists and last well in water when used as cut flowers.
At the end of the summer, after the top growth has died down, the tubers can be kept dry and dormant in their pots. However, it is better to carefully remove them, store them in a dry medium such as vermiculite, and overwinter them in a frost-free location.
Propagation and Conservation
The simplest way to propagate glory lilies is to divide the tubers into two pieces while they are dormant. They can also be grown from seed, and this may be an interesting way to encounter different colour forms, especially from a mixed collection where cross pollination has occurred.
The large oval seed pods should be allowed to dry on the plant. Once mature, the fleshy orange seeds can be gathered and saved until Spring. Soak the seeds in tepid water for 24 hours then remove the flesh, taking great care to wash your hands after handling them. Sow in a good quality seed compost at a depth of 2 cm and maintain between 20-25º C. The seeds can be slow to germinate and may take four months or more to emerge.
Although Gloriosa superba is a common plant in parts of its range and has become naturalised in some regions, it is protected in several countries and is almost extinct in a few locations. Even though the plant is cultivated commercially for pharmaceutical purposes, concern has been expressed in India regarding the over-collection of wild plants for this purpose.
Fortunately, the glory lily is freely available in the form of legitimately propagated tubers and seeds, so that anybody can enjoy the experience of cultivating this truly tropical gem.
References
Floridata: Gloriosa superba www.floridata.com
Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens: Plants and Fungi: Gloriosa superba (flame lily) - species profile from Kew www.kew.org
JSTOR Plant Science: Gloriosa superba plants.jstor.org
Peter Ashby - Peter Ashby lives near Granada in southern Spain, is an expert on natural history, and a dedicated traveller, writer and hispanist.
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