If you want to add a bit of drama in your garden, then Flame Lily is your best choice.
As the name goes, Flame Lily (Gloriosa superba) is a vibrant flowering plant known for its striking and dramatic fire-like flowers. Also known as Kalihari, Tiger Claw, Glory Lily, this plant is native to India and other countries in tropical Asia and Africa. Interestingly, it is the national flower of Zimbabwe and state flower of Tamil Nadu in India.
It grows naturally in a wide variety of habitats from forests to thickets to grasslands and even in sand dunes and other nutrient-poor soils. Being extremely hardy and beautiful, it can make a great addition to any landscape, irrespective of its size. Though Flame Lily isn’t just popular in the gardening world but also in pharmaceutical industry, thanks to its potent medicinal properties. It’s alkaloids have been commer-cially cultivated for the treatment of gout and cardiovascular diseases in modern medicine.
However, even before this, Gloriosa superba was widely used in traditional Ayurvedic & Chinese medicine to treat respiratory, skin related diseases & even reproductive problems.
A perennial, climbing plant, Flame Lily vines are tall, semi-hard stemmed with tuberous roots that support themselves by means of cirrhosed tips. It plays an important role in attracting butterflies & pollination. It can be easily propagated by dividing it’s rhizomes / tubers & can be multiplied eve in household pots.
Due to over-cultivation and illegal harvesting, today this plant is becoming rare and threatened. It’s time that we embrace and preserve our rich, native horticultural legacy!
By Dipti Agarwal
Founder and Chief Gardening Officer, Peepal
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