A REVIEW ON GLORIOSA SUPERBA L AS A MEDICINAL PLANT

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A REVIEW ON GLORIOSA SUPERBA L AS A MEDICINAL PLANT

Journal Title: Indian Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biotechnology - Year 2013, Vol 1, Issue 4

Abstract

This spectacular lily is a native of Africa, where it is the national flower of Zimbabwe, and also of India where it is the state flower of Tamil Nadu. It’s a herbaceous climber with tuberous roots, using its leaf-tip tendrils to cling to support. If it’s left to scramble through other plants in a conservatory it will grow to a couple of metres tall and typically produces 5-6 blooms. The plant grows from an underground tuber and is easy to cultivate in a warm conservatory in summer. All parts of the plant are poisonous and the tubers particularly so, since they contain the toxic alkaloid colchicine. Colchicine is the important alkaloid extracted from the seed and used in modern medicine. Like many poisonous plants it has a long history of use in folk medicine and along with several related genera that contain colchicine it has been used to treat. In Africa and India there has recently been resurgence in interest in extracting a broad spectrum of medicinally useful and antimicrobial compounds from the plant, even to the extent of growing it as a crop, but it’s those flame-like flowers that make it horticulturally interesting.

Authors and Affiliations

Kavithamani D, Umadevi M, Geetha S

Keywords

Gloriosa superba gloriosa lily medicinal activity

EP ID EP33092
DOI -
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