Gloriosa L., Sp. Pl. 1: 305 (1753).
Taxon Description
Twining herbs. Rhizomes stout, tuberous, naked. Stems branched, herbaceous, leafy, usually elongated. Leaves alternate or occasionally opposite, sub-sessile to sessile, scattered, simple, cauline, lanceolate, costate, cordate, veins parallel, main vein distinct, apex elongate, cirrhose, functioning as a tendril with entire margin. Inflorescences terminal, racemose. Flowers few, large, showy, bright red to yellow, born singly in axils of leaf-like bracts; pedicels long, recurved at apex. Tepals 6, free, persistent, sub-equal, petaloid, strongly spreading or reflexed, margins usually undulate or waved. Stamens 6, filaments free, filiform, inserted at base of tepals; anthers linear, dorsifixed, versatile, dehiscing extrosely. Ovary narrowly ellipsoid, 3-loculed, placentation axile with many ovules per locule. Style long, filiform, apically 3-lobed, adaxially stigmatic. Capsule large, loculicidal. Seeds bright red globose to sub-globose.
Taxon Statistics
Worldwide about 5 species from South and tropical Africa and Asia. One species in Nepal.
1. Gloriosa superba L., Sp.Pl. 1: 305 (1753).
Gloriosa nepalensis G. Don.
केवरा kewara, हारती फूल Haritali phul (Nepali).
Herbs (25–)75–110 cm. Roots stoloniferous tuberous corms, solid, white, naked in a chain of fleshy arched tubers, pointed at each end, bifurcately branched. Stems herbaceous, erect, terete, branched above, leafy. Petioles 1–3 mm. Leaves alternate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5–30 X 1.5–3 cm, apex cirrhose, many-veined. Raceme of solitary flowers. Bracts 5–15 X 1–2 cm, apex cirrhose. Flowers nodding, 3–8 X 3–5 cm, arising from axils of leafy bracts. Pedicels 7–15 cm X 1–1.5 mm, tip deflexed. Tepals bright red to golden yellow, linear-oblanceolate, 4–9.5 X 0.4–1 cm, margins curved and wavy. Stamens 3–5 cm, slightly shorter than the perianth; filaments golden yellow, 3–4.5 cm; anthers dorsifixed, 7–11 X ca. 1 mm. Ovary 10–15 X 3–5 mm, style filiform, 3–4 cm, stigma lobes 3–8 mm. Capsule black, linear-oblong, 5–5.6 X 1–2 cm. Seeds bright red, globose, ca. 3 mm.
Tubers are poisonous. The rhizomes are rich in the alkaloid colchicine.
Distribution: Nepal, Assam-Burma, S Asia, E Asia, SE Asia and SW Asia.
Altitudinal Range: 400–2,200m.
Ecology: Moist, open places.
Flowering: July–August. Fruiting: August–September.