Gloriosa superba L.

Family: Liliaceae

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Liliales > Colchicaceae > Gloriosa > G. superba

Common name [English]: Malabar Glory Lily, Climbing Lilly

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: മേന്തോന്നി, കരിയിലാഞ്ചി

Nativity: Tropical and Southern Africa and Tropical Asia

Habitat: Semi-evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests, also in the plains.

Description: Herbaceous climbers with tuberous roots. Leaves subsessile, alternate, opposite or whorled, 5-13 x 1.5-4 cm, ovate-lanceolate, base cordate or amplexicaul, apex acuminate, ending in a tendril. Flowers bisexual, showy, axilliary, solitary or in few-flowered, terminal racemes; pedicel to 7 cm long. Perianth-lobes 6, free, 5-7 x 0.8-1.2 cm, linear-oblong, reflexed or spreading, base narrow, margin undulate, apex acuminate, yellowish below and reddish above. Stamens 6; filaments 3-4 cm long; anthers oblong-linear, versatile. Ovary 1 x 0.5 cm, oblong, 3-locular; ovules numerous; style to 4 cm long, deflexed; stigmas 3. Capsule 3-5 x 1-2 cm, ellipsoid-oblong; seeds many, 3 mm, globose, warty.

Flowering and Fruiting: July- December

Uses: Medicinal

Cultivation: Wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org