Gloriosa Superba L.

SavannahMan

This is my botanical baby everyone. I've been cultivating this little wonder for three years now, and thought I'd share the first bloom with my digital friends here. This is a Gloriosa Superba L. (Glory or Flame Lily). Very toxic, very beautiful, very incredible to have in your backyard. It's been getting bigger and blooming better every year, last year climbing about 8 feet up the little tree before going dormant for the winter. Here's a peek:

Note the leaves have no stems. They grow directly from the stalk. The Gloriosa is a vine with several unique features, this is one...


Another coolism is the leaves end in small tendrils which it uses to grasp and climb. The smaller ones will reach out and grasp the leaves of larger plants to support themselves, like this...


They shoot up to their starting point for the season before sprouting the first round of pods. The plant will continue to grow higher until it turns yellow and dies down. Last year it started at about four feet. This year it made it five.

(note the leave grabbing the twig in the upper left.)

In a day or two, the pods begin to color, changing from green to bright reds and yellows:


The next day the pod folds backwards and upside down, revealing what is without doubt the most awesome flower in my whole backyard. lol.:

SavannahMan

Here's some more
Here's a few more. I have more on smugmug if your interested. (under nature)














I know it won't be a new sight to everyone, but I bet it is for a few. I had never seen one until it appeared in my yard!:D

digismile

What an interesting plant! How big is it? It's hard to tell if this is a monster from little shop of horrors or a delicate miniature.

Brad
(no plants like that here in Zone 3 )

DavidTO

This from the same guy that suggested "road kill" as a weekly assignment. Go figure. Nice shots, beautiful flower.

Steve Lear

BylLuvaul wrote:

Thats one awesome flower

That's for sure. Well named also.

SavannahMan

digismile wrote:

What an interesting plant! How big is it? It's hard to tell if this is a monster from little shop of horrors or a delicate miniature.

Brad
(no plants like that here in Zone 3 )

The flower is about half the size of my hand, I'll post some more soon with a size comparison. The big flowers will bloom in about a month. They should rival an open hand. I've seen several others growing around town, but none as big as this one. I guess it's natural growth status has some bearing.

SavannahMan

DavidTO wrote:

This from the same guy that suggested "road kill" as a weekly assignment. Go figure. Nice shots, beautiful flower.

Hey, I like it because it's poisonous! click here

DavidTO

SavannahMan wrote:

Hey, I like it because it's poisonous! click here

One potent plant. The intense vomiting, the diarrhoea. It all makes sense now.

My faith in your freakiness has been fully restored.

SavannahMan

DavidTO wrote:

One potent plant. The intense vomiting, the diarrhoea. It all makes sense now.

My faith in your freakiness has been fully restored.

All is well again. I can rest.