On a visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town to research the aloes that form a crucial subject in my novel, The Fire Portrait, I came across a different plant - yet one that fitted with the potential title of the novel. It wasn't a specimen I chose to have my heroine, Frances McDonald, paint but maybe I should have?
Part of the genus Gloriosa, the Flame Lily is found from Africa to Asia and is famous for its seemingly ethereal flowers and a sneaking ability to creep up and over its neighbours. It is the national flower of Zimbabwe and graces many photographs and images of that country.
Yet for all its delicate looks, beware! The Flame Lily is highly poisonous! Do not feed any part of the plant to humans or animals! Yet despite this toxicity, it has been used for many years in a variety of ways: in traditional healing, as a snake repellent, in poisonous arrows (!), as part of religious rituals. And after careful formulation of its alkaloid ingredient, colchicine, it is also used in conventional medicine to treat conditions like gout.
After The Fire Portrait had been published, I happened to find myself back at Kirstenbosch, standing in front of a patch of these stunning flowers.
Surely they might form an appropriate backdrop for a photo of the book?
Beautiful, deadly...
Redolent of the shocking fire that leads Frances to create a unique portrait in charcoal, ash and blood...
No comments:
Post a Comment