GLORIOSA, in botany, a small genus of plants of the family Liliaceae, natives of tropical Asia and Africa. They are bulbous plants, the slender stems of which support themselves by tendril like prolongations of the tips of some of the narrow generally lanceolate leaves. The flowers, which are borne in the leaf-axils at the ends of the stem, are very handsome, the six, generally nar row, petals are bent back and stand erect, and are a rich orange yellow or red in colour; the six stamens project more or less horizontally from the place of insertion of the petals. They are grown in cultivation as stove or greenhouse plants, and often called climbing-lily.