The Flame Lily (Gloriosa superba) was Southern Rhodesia’s national flower. It is often found near or on rocky kopjes in good humus soil, and visited by the migrating African Vagrant butterflies when it blooms in December. The Shona name of Kajongwe is particularly apt for, as the wind shakes the plant, so the bright red petals twitch like a rooster’s comb.
Every part of the plant is poisonous, especially the tuberous rhizomes, and is toxic enough to cause human and animal fatalities if ingested.
Stamps & Postal Products
1953 Definitive Series – 4d Flame Lily
1964 Definitive Series – 6d Flame Lily
