Gloriosa lily, also known as flame lily and climbing lily

English name: LovelyGloriosa

Family: Liliaceae, genus Gloriosa

Aliases: Gloriosa lily, flame lily, climbing lily

Origin:

Southern Yunnan, Hainan Province of China, and tropical Asia and Africa. In China, wild scattered distribution occurs below 1200 m altitude in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.

Plant type: perennial climbing herbaceous flower

Biological characteristics and ecological habits:

Gloriosa has horizontal rhizomes, about 2 cm in diameter, pale yellowish-brown, usually sprouting from the terminal bud. The aboveground stem is slender and supple, climbing, up to 3 m tall, green, less than 1 cm in diameter, unbranched or with a few branches. Leaves are sessile, alternate, opposite, or in whorls of 3, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, bright green, tapering to a tail-like point at the apex, with a tendril-like tip, by which it twines around other objects to grow upward.

Flowers are bisexual, solitary or several borne at the top in a loose corymb. The flowers are large and brightly colored, 10 cm-15 cm in diameter, with 6 free tepals, red in the upper part and yellow in the lower part, linear-lanceolate, recurved upward, with undulate margins. They open successively from July to November; each flower can last 10-11 days, and each plant can bloom for about 55 days. Capsule.

The petals of Gloriosa begin green and curl back into a dragon-claw shape; the next day the middle of the petals turns yellow, the petal tips are bright red, and the petal edges are bordered with gold; after 3 days, the base and middle of the flower change from green and yellow to golden yellow, orange-red, and finally bright red. The blooming period of the whole plant can last 55 days.

It prefers a warm, humid climate and fertile soil rich in organic matter, with good drainage and aeration and strong water retention, and grows well in dense forests and moist grass. It is intolerant of drought and strong light; during the seedling stage it needs 40%-45% shade, and during the vegetative growth and flowering stages it needs 10%-15% shade, with soil moisture kept at about 80%. During the growing period, rainfall of 1000-1200 mm is suitable, and relative air humidity of more than 80% is required.

Its cold tolerance is relatively poor. When the temperature is below 22°C, flower development is poor and it cannot set seed; when below 15°C, the aboveground parts of the plant suffer frost damage. The optimum growing temperature is 22°C-24°C. It generally sprouts and grows in March, begins flowering in mid-June, reaches full bloom in July-August, and seeds mature in September-October

Common ornamental species in the same genus include:

G. rothschildiana, with broad lanceolate leaves and broad lanceolate tepals, recurved, sometimes undulate at the margins, petals orange-red with a golden yellow base. Native to tropical Africa. From the 3rd-4th node onward, tendrils grow at the tip; leaf arrangement is irregular, with 15-20 leaves opposite, alternate, or whorled.

G. virescens, with ovate-round leaves and red or yellow flowers, petal margins not wrinkled. Native to tropical Africa.

G. carsonii, with broad petals, purplish-red, with lemon-yellow margins.

G. greeneae, with broad, flat-spreading petals, bright yellow.

G. verschurii, with broad petals. Margins less wrinkled, orange-red with yellow at the base.

Cultivated varieties include g. superbacv. Aurea, with spiral petals, orange-red. Peacock, a medium-sized flower, 8-12 cm in diameter, deep red with orange-yellow edges; stems climbing; leaves dark green and lanceolate.

Variety: var. grandiflora.