Glory Lily

Overview

Glory lily is native to Africa. It is found in USA, Indochina, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar Island, India (Tamil Nadu and other South Indian forests). In Australia, it grows in the coastal region of Queensland. Although poisonous, the plant is often used in traditional medicine both in Asia and in Africa.

Vernacular Names

Jia lan (Chinese), Prachtelie (Dutch), Lis de Malabar (French), Malabarische methonika (German), Gloriosa (Portuguese), Gurorioosa - Superuba (Japanese), Bachnag (Hindi).

Agroecology

The plant is found growing in brushwood, hedges, open forest, tropical jungles, forests, thickets, woodlands, grasslands, sand dunes, mountain habitats, deciduous woodlands, sparse savannah grasslands, and shrub lands. It is usually at elevations up to 300 m, occasionally to 600 m.

Morphology

• Roots - rootstock is a chain of fleshy arched tubers, budding from the convexity above, cylindrical, flattened, often 15 to 20 cm long.
• Tuber - cylindrical tubers are fleshy and Vshaped, and one to four stems arise from it.
• Stem - one to four stems grow from a tuber, cylindrical, full, smooth, bright green, simple or slightly branched, low self-supporting.
• Leaves - mainly alternately arranged, but they may be opposite, as well. They are somewhat lance-shaped and tipped with tendrils, up 13 to 20 cm long and 1.5 to 4 cm wide.
• Flowers - showy flower has six tepals each up to 5 to 7.6 cm long. They are generally bright red to orange at maturity, sometimes with yellowish bases.
• Fruits - fleshy ellipsoid capsule up to 6 to 12 cm long and 1 to 2 cm in diameter.
• Seeds - spherical, 4 to 5 mm in diameter and bright red.

Cultivation

• It can be propagated by seed or by dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs.

Chemical Constituents

• Seed: colchicines, cornigerine, 3-demethyl-Nformyl-N-deacetyl-b-lumicolchicine, 3- demethyl-g-lumicolchicine, 3-demethyl 234 colchicines.
• Tubers: b-sitosterol, glucoside, fatty acid, b and g-lumiccolchicines.
• Flowers: luteolin, colchicines, N-formyldeacetylcolchicines and glucosides of 3-demethylcolchicine.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• It is used as a laxative, decongestant, alexiteric, tonic and purgative.
• Root is tonic, antiperiodic, alterative, purgative, and anthelmintic.
• It is useful in the treatment of ulcers, leprosy, piles, inflammations, abdominal pains, itching and thirst.
• Tuberous root stocks boiled with Sesamum oil is applied twice daily to painful arthritic joints. Also used to treat intestinal worms, bruises, infertility, skin problems and impotence.
• Applied externally, the tuber is used in the treatment of bruises, colic, chronic ulcers, hemorrhoids and cancer.
• Crushed leaves are applied to the chest to treat asthma and to affected areas to treat rheumatism.
• Seeds are used to relieve rheumatic pain and as muscle relaxant.