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Taxonomy

Physical Description

Family Cannaceae:

Herbs perennial. Stems erect, robust. Rhizomes tuberous. Leaves alternate, spirally arranged, large, veins pinnate and parallel, base sheathing. Inflorescence a terminal raceme or panicle of showy, 1- or 2-flowered cincinni. Flowers bisexual, asymmetric, mostly large. Sepals 3, green, free, persistent. Corolla lobes 3, green or colored, basally connate into a tube and adnate to staminodes. Staminodes and stamen in 2 whorls: outer whorl with (2 or) 3 conspicuous, petaloid staminodes, usually red or yellow; inner whorl with a reflexed staminode (labellum), narrower than outer staminodes, and a fertile stamen; filament petaloid; anther 1-loculed, adnate to apical margin of filament. Ovary inferior, 3-loculed; ovules numerous per locule; placentation axile. Style petaloid. Fruit a capsule, 3-valved, usually warty. Seeds many, globose; endosperm copious; embryo straight.

One genus and ten to twenty species: tropical and subtropical America; one species (introduced) in China.^[1]

Genus Canna:

Herbs, rhizomatous, 1--2[--5] m, forming small to large monotypic stands. Leaves green [bronze or magenta in hybrids and cultivars], often glaucous [lanuginose]; blade narrowly ovate to narrowly elliptic, 20--70 cm ´ 15--30 cm, base gradually or abruptly tapered, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences: peduncles green [magenta], often glaucous; bracts green [magenta], often glaucous; primary bracts to 30 cm, secondary bracts to 20 cm; floral bracts 0.5--3 ´ 0.3--1.5 cm, papery. Flowers nearly sessile, subtended by pedicel bract; sepals usually green [magenta], often less than half size of petals; petals sharply reflexed or not, green or brightly colored, 4--15 cm, generally shorter than staminodes; staminodes pale yellow to deep crimson red; labellum 3--9 ´ 4--10 cm; ovary green [magenta]. Capsules brown, 1.5--6 ´ 2--4.5 cm, warty, becoming papery. Seeds 5--25[--75] per capsule, medium to dark brown or black, 4--10 ´ 4--8 mm.

Species 10: tropical and subtropical Americas with some species naturalized and many cultivated hybrids.

Until recently taxonomists recognized more than 50 species in Canna, but that number has now been reduced to ten (P. J. M. Maas 1985; P. J. M. Maas and H. Maas 1988) based mainly on new concepts of biogeographical history, the extent of hybridization during cultivation, and the plasticity of morphological features, especially in the highly polymorphic species C. indica.

Little has been published regarding pollination of these plants. The two North American species with pale yellow flowers, Canna glauca and C. flaccida, flower at dusk and may be pollinated by hawkmoths. Several neotropical species with bright red or orange flowers are hummingbird-pollinated. Nectar, which accumulates at the base of the floral tube, is the apparent reward in all cases. Pollen is shed from the bisporangiate anther onto the adjacent style before the flower opens (secondary pollen presentation), which usually results in self-pollination; thus, greenhouse-grown plants readily set seed. The large seed size and lack of reward for potential animal dispersal agents suggests that seeds are dispersed by gravity and water. Seeds can germinate and produce reproductive shoots in a single growing season.

Both Canna flaccida and C. glauca, as well as several Central American species, are hosts to the larva of the skipper butterfly Calpodes ethlius (Cramer), ), which builds protective tents by folding or rolling the apices of the leaves.

The most common use of Canna by Europeans and North Americans is as ornamentals. Both the hybrids and some species are grown for their striking foliage and large, delicate flowers. Two hybrids commonly grown in both temperate and tropical zones are C. ×generalis L. H. Bailey and C. ×orchioides L. H. Bailey. The former is apparently a cross between C. indica and C. glauca, or C. iridiflora Ruiz & and Pavóon and the latter between C. ×generalis and C. flaccida (L. H. Bailey 1924; J. W. Donahue 1965) . These hybrids are usually sterile, although they may persist in cultivation.

The seeds of Canna indica are used as beads (especially for rosaries) and in gourds to form rattles. The rhizomes are used to make a form of arrowroot. The vegetation and rhizomes have been used as medicinals for both humans and domesticated animals.^[2]

Flowers: Flower Color: mauve, rose

Similar Species

Members of the genus Canna:

There are approximately 1,029 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them: C. aurantiaca · C. generalis · C. hortensis · C. iridiflora · C. orchiodes · C. rotundifolia · C. 'Ada' (Ada Canna Lily) · C. 'Adam's Orange' · C. 'African Sunset' (African Sunset Canna Lily) · C. 'Aida' · C. 'Alaska' · C. 'Alberich' · C. 'Alex Cole' · C. 'Aloha' (Aloha Canna Lily Canna) · C. 'Altenstenii' · C. 'Ambassador' · C. 'Ambassadour' · C. 'Ambrosia' · C. 'America' · C. 'American Beauty' · C. 'American Flag' · C. 'Amundsen' · C. 'Angel Pink' · C. 'Angie Summers' · C. 'Annaeei' · C. 'Anthony and Cleopatra' · C. 'Aphrodite' · C. 'Apricot Dream' · C. 'Apricot Frost' · C. 'Apricot Ice' · C. 'Aranyálom' · C. 'Argentina' · C. 'Aries' (Aries Canna Lily) · C. 'Assaut' · C. 'Atlantis' · C. 'Australia' · C. 'Baby Pink' · C. 'Bananitas' · C. 'Bangkok' · C. 'Begonia' · C. 'Black Knight' · C. 'Bonfire' · C. 'Bonnezeaux' · C. 'Boom Boom' · C. 'Brighton Orange' · C. 'Brillant' · C. 'Brilliant' · C. 'Burbank' · C. 'Butterfly' · C. 'Caballero' · C. 'Caliente' · C. 'Caliméro' · C. 'Canary' · C. 'Candy Festival' · C. 'C. Get-it' (Canna Get-It Canna Lily) · C. 'Carnaval' · C. 'Centenaire de Rozain-Boucharlat' · C. 'Centurion' · C. 'Cerise Davenport' · C. 'Champigny' · C. 'Champion' · C. 'Cherry Red' · C. 'China Doll' · C. 'China Lady' · C. 'Chinese Coral' · C. 'Chiswick King' · C. 'Chouchou' · C. 'Citrina' · C. 'City of Portland' · C. 'Cleopatra' · C. 'Cléopâtre' · C. 'Colibri' · C. 'Conestoga' · C. 'Confetti' · C. 'Coq d'Or' · C. 'Corail' · C. 'Corrida' · C. 'Corsica' · C. 'Côte d'Or' · C. 'Cream Beauty' · C. 'Cream' · C. 'Creamy White' · C. 'Crème de la Crème' · C. 'Crimson Beauty' · C. 'Cupid' · C. 'Dazzler' · C. 'Delaware' · C. 'Délibáb' · C. 'Di Bartolo' · C. 'Dollar' · C. 'Dondo' · C. 'Dondoblutrot' · C. 'Durban' · C. 'Durban' red-flowered · C. 'E. Neubert' · C. 'Ember' · C. 'Emblème' · C. 'Empire' · C. 'En Avant' · C. 'Endeavour'

Bibliography

• Bailey, L.. H. 1924. Manual of Cultivated Plants.
• Donahue, J. W. 1965. History, breeding and cultivation of the canna. Amer. Hort. Mag. 44: 84--91.
• Gade, D. W. 1966. Achira, the edible canna, its cultivation and use in the Peruvian Andes. Econ. Bot. 20: 407--415.
• Segeren, W. and P. J. M. Maas. 1971. The genus Canna in northern South America. Acta Bot. Neerl. 20: 663--680.
• Tomlinson, P. B. 1961. The anatomy of Canna. J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 56: 467--473.
• Wu Te-lin & Chen Sen-jen. 1981. Cannaceae. In: Wu Te-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 16(2): 152--158.
• Young, A. M. 1982. Notes on the interaction of the skipper butterfly Calpodes ethlius (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) with its larval host plant Canna edulis (Cannaceae) in Mazatlan, State of Sinaloa, Mexico. J. New York Entomol. Soc. 90(2): 99--114.

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Notes

Contributors:

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2007. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed March 24, 2007.

Identifiers:

• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 937474

Footnotes:

1. Delin Wu & W. John Kress "Cannaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 378. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
2. "Canna". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.