State flower withers amid falling prices and market manipulation
The Hindu
The commercial cultivation of flame lily had attracted many in the State since the 1980s as a kilogram of the seeds of the flower, with its therapeutic properties, fetched up to ₹8,000 in a pharmaceutical-driven market. That’s no longer the case
Flame lily occupies a special place in Tamil literature. The Sangam-era poet, Kapilar, refers to it in his Kurinchipattu that describes the landscape of the mountainous terrain. When the State of Tamil Nadu was formed in 1956, flame lily was named as its official flower.
However, it is not the best of times for farmers raising Gloriosa superba, also referred to as ‘Kanvali kizhangu’ ‘Karthigaipoo’, and ‘Senkanthalpoo’. Falling prices and lack of marketing support are affecting them.
Commercial cultivation of the flame lily had attracted many in Tamil Nadu since the 1980s as a kilogram of the seeds of the flower, with its therapeutic properties, fetched up to ₹8,000 in a pharmaceutical-driven market. That’s no longer the case.
“Flame lily is used by pharmaceutical companies, but the farmers are excluded from the actual process once they harvest the seeds. This allowed middlemen to manipulate the market,” Pala Raghupathy, organiser, Tamil Nadu Kanvali Kizhangu Vivasayigal Sangam (TNKKVS), told The Hindu.
Based out of Mulanur in Tiruppur district, the 15-year-old flame lily farmers’ association has 2,100 members, and has been lobbying for greater transparency in the way the sector works.
Growing from a fleshy rhizome, this herbaceous climber with vividly coloured flowers is commonly found in scrubland, forests, thickets and even sand dunes. Both the roots and the seeds are important pharmaceutical ingredients in indigenous Indian and African medicine. For several decades, they have been part of therapies to treat or manage ailments such as cancer, gout, arthritis, leprosy and dyspepsia.
Among the 24 alkaloids present in flame lily are colchicine and colchicoside, used in anti-cancer medication, besides 10 non-alkaloidal medicinal compounds, including B-sitosterol, chelidonic acid, luteolin and stigmasterol, says a paper published on envis.frlht.org by Bharathidasan University plant science professor K.V. Krishnamurthy.