Gloriosa : Chemical Constituents, Uses and Synonyms

Gloriosa superba Upon opening, the petals of the gloriosa lily point up and its stamens spread out beneath in a circular fashion. 

Morphology and Distribution of Gloriosa:

Gloriosa consists of the dried tubers of Gloriosa superba that belongs to the family Liliaceae. It is also known as glory lily. Gloriosa is an ornamental plant that is indigenous to tropical Asia and Africa. Tamil Nadu is the state which produces the drug on large scale.

Glory Lily is a branched herbaceous climber and is common in low jungles. It has characteristic leaves and attractive coloured flowers. The tubers are perennial and are fleshy. It has gained importance in medicine recently. As there was heavy demand for colchicine, many other potential plants like Iphigenia, Morendera, Androcymbium and Gloriosa were screened and Gloriosa was found to be a promising drug for the production of colchicine on commercial scale.

Isolation of colchicine from gloriosa:

• By using conventional method of extraction using alcohol and chloroform, it yields less percentage of colchicine type alkaloids from Gloriosa superba.
• By aqueous extraction method, more than 80% of colchicine is recovered with better yield.

Chemical nature of Gloriosa:

Gloriosa contains mainly colchicine along with other derivatives.

Uses of Gloriosa:

Gloriosa is used for treating gout and inflammation.

Synonyms of Gloriosa:

• Sanskrit – Langali, visalya
• English – Malabar glorylily
• Arabic – Al bahir al hindiyah
• Bengali – Bishalanguli
• French – Superbe de Malabar
• German – Malabarische methonika
• Gujrati – Varhvardi
• Hindi – Karihari, Languli
• Italian – Narciso superbo
• Kannada – Agnisikhe
• Malayalam – Kantal, Mentonni
• Marathi – Indai, Watnakhi
• Oriyan – Gulia
• Punjabi – Kariari, Mulim
• Tamil – Akkinichilam
• Telugu – Adavinabhi