Gloriosa superba commonly known as flame lily, climbing lily, creeping lily, glory lily, gloriosa lily, tiger claw and fire lily. I would consider this as a unique flowering plant, more likely as an upside down flower.
And something about it's botanic name:
(Gloriosa superba) Superbly Glorious... don't you think so?
Apart from this beautiful feature there is a downside for this plant as every part of this plant is considered poisonous - so care is necessary not to place any edible plants or vegetables growing together with this plant.
Another side of it, with the right dosage its also used as traditional medicine in various cultures and different ailments. I wouldn't recommend this as a herb due to it;s toxicity.
Growing:
I had tried various ways but found success only using the tubers.
The tubers are in (V) shape and sprouts appears from the tips. It does look fragile but once it established itself it is a stable plant.
I find that they are much stable and stronger when planted on ground rather than in a pot. They do however go dormant and the whole plant dies off and regenerate back again and again after it had completed it's blooming cycle.
The blooms appear like an umbrella with wavy yellow petals which eventually turns orange to red when matures. I had yet to find any fragrance from this bloom. Also the plant had not set to seed and therefore propagation method is only limited using the tuber as medium.
The leaves has a unique feature where tendrils appear at the end of each leaves forming a fastening effect where it allow them to attach and climb around any plant or fence as it trails like a climbing vine plant.
It can be a bit messy as the foliage attachment are permanent and difficult to undo them manually once it had fastened itself.
The flowers require full sun to bloom and may not bloom in shaded area.
I had not seen these cultivated freely rather very much found in wild or grown as weed along the roadside. These are becoming rare as they are not highly sought after and had not even seen in any nurseries selling them as ornament flowering plants.
After the bloom is spend, I was hoping to see the seedpod forming with seeds but they all appear to be sterile.
Do let me know your thoughts and experience with this cascading beautiful flowering plant.
No comments:
Post a Comment