Gloriosa (Gloriosa) – a beautiful plant with rather unusual flowers. Family: Colchicums.
The plant is native to the tropics of Africa and India. Gdoriosa is a climbing herbaceous tuberous plant.
Gloririosa beauty flower in shape it resembles a Chinese lantern, it is also compared with a lit torch. Hence its name is explained, because in the translation of gloriosa it sounds like a “flower of glory”.
Description of the appearance of the gloriosa plant
The plant looks beautiful, and it is not difficult to care for it, which is why many flower lovers plant it in their homes. In just one year, gloriosa manages to grow long shoots, become covered with flowers, and then wither.
During the season, the shoots grow up to 2 m. Therefore, the plant needs a support to which it will attach with its tendrils.
The following photo shows a gloriosa flower grown by nature itself, without human influence.
Elegant flowers with bright colors, up to 10 cm in diameter, on long peduncles, very much resemble lilies in shape. The petals are purple, golden yellow at the base and golden at the edges. Each flower, with proper care, stays on the plant for about three weeks.
As a rule, gloriosa blooms from June to August. For the winter, the entire part of the plant that is above the ground dies off, but in the spring, the plant releases new shoots. Gloriosa has a tuberous rhizome. The tuber is rather narrow, up to 2 cm in diameter, and covered with light brown bark.
In the description of the appearance of the Gloriosa tuber, it is said that it can reach up to 20-30 cm in length, so it is worth choosing large volumes for planting. The shoots are bright green, with a round section, their length, on average, is from 1 to 2 m. Internodes are located close to each other on the shoots, each of which has several sessile leaves.
The leaves are smooth, with a pronounced central vein, they are oval in shape, strongly elongated towards the end. At the end of each leaf is a tendril, with which the plant is attached to the support.
You need to know that a plant called gloriosa is poisonous. All parts of the plant contain the dangerous alkaloid colchicine. If this substance enters the body, it causes severe poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea. In the most critical cases, death is possible.
Species and varieties
In nature, there are only five species of this interesting plant, but only four are bred at home.
Among plant lovers, the most popular are:
Gloriosa magnificent (G. superba).
Gloriosa simple (G. simplex).
Gloriosa Rothschild (G. rotschildiana).
Each of these types has its own differences.
Gloriosa superb (Gloriosa magnificent). Most often found in apartments and houses – it is a perennial liana with a tuber located at the base of the stem. This type of plant is characterized by thin, up to 2 m long shoots with leaves.
Most often, two varieties of magnificent gloriosa are distinguished:
Gloriosa Lutea.
Gloriosa Nana.
The first grade is distinguished by beautiful yellow foliage, Nana gloriosa is considered a dwarf plant.
Oblong, narrow leaves seem to “sit” on the trunk. At the end of each leaf there is a tendril, with which the plant is attached to any support found.
Single flowers grow from the axils of the leaves. Flower petals have wavy edges, they are thin and rather long (up to 8 cm). The outer part of the petals has a yellow-red color, in the middle it is soft pink. The plant blooms all summer.
Gloriosa magnificent has 2 subspecies: large-flowered ( grandiflora ) and yellow ( lutea ).
Gloriosa simplex (Gloriosa simple). The description of this subspecies of the gloriosa flower is simple, and this can be seen in the following photo.
The miniature flowers, approximately 3 cm in diameter, are greenish at first, but over time they begin to turn yellow, becoming a yellow-orange hue. The petals are distinguished by almost even edges and do not actually bend back.
The length of the stems, as a rule, rarely exceeds 1.5 m, the leaves are about 8 cm long.
Gloriosa rotschildiana (Gloriosa Rothschild).
The flower is the national emblem of Zambia. The flowers are large, up to 12 cm in diameter, the petal length is on average 10 cm. Each petal is dark scarlet in color with purple spots at the base.
The edges of the flowers have a strong corrugated shape.
How to plant and care for gloriosa
When taking up the cultivation of a gloriosa plant at home, it is worth monitoring:
- temperature.
- Lighting.
- Humidity.
- Irrigation and fertilizer.
- The presence of support.
So, gloriosa needs a bright, sunny room. The main thing is not to overheat. In the heat, she needs shading. It is ideal to place flowerpots with gloriosa on the windowsills on the east or west sides.
To properly care for gloriosa, you need to protect the plant from direct sunlight.
In summer, you can take out a flowerpot with a flower to fresh air. It is worth making sure that it does not stand in a draft, and also to prevent a sharp temperature drop.
Gloriosa care at home involves constant monitoring of air humidity. It should be high, ideally you need to put a flowerpot near a container of water. Every day it is worth spraying the stems and leaves, but at the same time make sure that drops of water do not collect on them.
In summer, at very high temperatures, the plant is placed on a pallet with pebbles filled with water. Gloriosa is a heat-loving plant; in winter, its tubers are stored in a pot at a temperature not lower than 10-12 ° C.
To grow a flower, you need to make or purchase the following substrate – leaf humus, sod land, peat and sand, in a ratio (1: 2: 1: 1).
As soon as the first sprout appears on the surface of the soil from Gloriosa seeds planted at home, it is regularly watered with warm, well-purified water. The earth in the pot should dry out only ¼. This is the main rule: during the period of active growth and flowering – abundant watering.
After the end of flowering, watering is reduced, and after the leaves dry, they stop completely. That is, in winter, gloriosa does not need watering at all.
This species of the Bezvremennikovy family needs constant replenishment with mineral and organic substances. Weekly, from March to August, gloriosa is fed with flower fertilizers. Gloriosa planting occurs in the spring when the tubers are transplanted into a fresh substrate.
Gardeners should remember that this is a climbing plant, so you need to think in advance about the support to which the shoots will be attached. It can be a simple wooden scarf, a curved decorative support, or even a wall. Shoots can be carefully bent and tied up, giving them the desired shape.
How to plant gloriosa at home with seeds and tubers
To have a beautiful plant at home, you can resort to two methods by which reproduction occurs:
- Tubers during transplantation.
- With the help of seeds.
Growing homemade gloriosa from seeds should be done in February or March. In order for the seeds to take root well, the following rules must be observed:
- Choose a pot made of clay, with a large diameter and shallow.
- Soak the seeds in warm water for a day before sowing.
- Plant seeds in a special loosened soil, which will include humus, peat and sand.
- At the bottom of the flowerpot, be sure to pour drainage (expanded clay, pebbles, chipped bricks).
When everything is ready, it is necessary to make notches in the soil up to 4 mm deep and plant seeds there. Sprinkle with earth on top, in no case tamp. At first, watering should be done with a spray bottle.
The following photos show that caring for gloriosa seedlings at home involves the use of cling film or glass. They need to cover the planted seeds and put the pot in a bright place with an air temperature of at least 24 °.
It is necessary to ventilate the ground daily, before the first shoots appear, this is done in order to avoid excessive moisture. The first sprouts should appear in 6-8 weeks.
An interesting technique is used by experienced gardeners, they simply periodically heat the bottom of the pot with planted seeds for better germination.
Planting gloriosa with tubers and caring for it is as follows. Tubers, as well as seeds, are planted in early March. The tuber is planted horizontally and sprinkled with 2-3 cm of earth. To germinate, the tuber must be whole and not damaged. Unlike others, this plant cannot develop from part of a tuber. At the end of the latter there is one single kidney, and if it is damaged, then the tuber is considered unusable.
How to properly plant a gloriosa plant so that it germinates? Neither the seeds nor the tuber will germinate if the soil is too dry, but it is also not worth pouring the substrate.
If the soil in the pot is too wet, it is fraught with the fact that the roots will rot. The fact that the soil is too wet will signal the appearance of a whitish coating on the shoots. If this is noticed, it is necessary to reduce the humidity of the air and allow the substrate to dry on its own.
To please yourself and your household with a beautiful exotic plant, you need to know not only how to plant gloriosa correctly, but also recognize the signs that will indicate that the plant is bad.
So, for example, slow growth indicates that the plant lacks lighting. Twisting and darkening of young shoots indicates the presence of drafts and too low ambient temperature. If only the tips of the leaves dry, then the air in the room is too dry and needs to be moistened.
The sooner these signals are noticed and action taken, the sooner the appearance of the plant will return to normal.