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Botanical Name Gloriosa superba  

 

 

 

 

Common Name English: Malabar glory Lilly
Family Liliaceae
Parts Used Tubers, seeds.
Medicinal Property A bitter, stimulant herb with antibacterial effects. Internally fresh tubers cause abortion. It has been used to speed labour, soaked in milk to reduce toxicity. Mainly externally for lice, scabies and leprosy. Excess causes numbness, nausea, spasms and unconsciousness.
Chemistry It is main source of “Colchicin”.
Description A handsome herbaceous tendril climber with underground cylindrical white tuberous rhizome, leaves sessile or nearly so, alternate, ovate lanceolate with acuminate tips prolonged into spiral tendrils; flowers showy, solitary or subcorymbose, at first greenish later becoming yellow and finally crimson; fruits linear-oblong capsules, seeds many.
Distribution Throughout India, up to 1,800 m in low jungles and also cultivated in Tamil Nadu (India)
Economics  
Warning All parts extremely toxic if eaten fresh. Repeated handling of tubers causes skin irritation.