What is a Glory Lily?

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Gloriosa is a genus of five or six species in the plant family Colchicaceae, from tropical Africa and Asia. They are tender, tuberous rooted deciduous perennials, adapted to summer rainfall with a dormant dry season. The most common names are: English: flame lily, fire lily, gloriosa lily, glory lily, superb lily, climbing lily, creeping lily http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_lily Apr 01 08, 5:39 PM

BRY2K

The glory lily is a vigorous vine, not passionflower or kudzu like, but just perfect for a trellis or small arbor. They will generally climb from eight to 12 feet. The flowers are spidery, lily-like with six bright red petals with yellow margins, and long protruding stamens. Most people will recognize them immediately as tropical in origin. They are from tropical Africa and Asia and are the national flower of Zimbabwe. I like the glory lily’s botanical name, Gloriosa superba, because we can paraphrase by calling it gloriously superb. http://msucares.com/news/print/sgnews/sg06/sg060713.html It is a rarely grown indoor ornamental vine best suited to greenhouses. Ingesting the tubers causes severe poisoning in humans. The plant contains two alkaloids, including colchicine, which cause severe gastroenteritis, vomiting, and possible unconciousness. Severe hair loss is a consistent symptom of colchicine poisoning. http://www.scib.gc.ca/pls/pp/ppack.info?p_psn=145&p_type=all&p_sci=sci&p_x=px Apr 01 08, 5:41 PM