Canna indica
Encyclopedia
Canna indica L. is a species
of the Canna
genus
, belonging to the family Cannaceae
, a native of the Caribbean
and tropical Americas
that is also widely cultivated as a garden plant. It is a perennial
growing from 0.5m to 2.5m, depending on the variety. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite
.
The seeds
are small, globular, black pellets, hard and heavy enough to sink in water. They resemble shotgun
pellets giving rise to the plant's common name of Indian Shot. They are widely used for jewellery
. The seeds are also used as the mobile elements of the kayamb
, a musical instrument
from Réunion
, as well as the hosho
, a gourd
rattle
from Zimbabwe
, where the seeds are known as "hota" seeds.
from Netherlands
and Nobuyuki Tanaka
from Japan
. Maas regards C. coccinea, C. compacta, C. discolor, C. patens and C. speciosa as synonyms or varieties of C. indica, while Tanaka recognises several additional varieties of C. indica.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of the Canna
Canna (plant)
Canna is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants. The closest living relations to cannas are the other plant families of the order Zingiberales, that is the gingers, bananas, marantas, heliconias, strelitzias, etc.Canna is the only genus in the family Cannaceae...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
, belonging to the family Cannaceae
Canna (plant)
Canna is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants. The closest living relations to cannas are the other plant families of the order Zingiberales, that is the gingers, bananas, marantas, heliconias, strelitzias, etc.Canna is the only genus in the family Cannaceae...
, a native of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and tropical Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
that is also widely cultivated as a garden plant. It is a perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
growing from 0.5m to 2.5m, depending on the variety. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
.
The seeds
SEEDS
SEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India....
are small, globular, black pellets, hard and heavy enough to sink in water. They resemble shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
pellets giving rise to the plant's common name of Indian Shot. They are widely used for jewellery
Jewellery
Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...
. The seeds are also used as the mobile elements of the kayamb
Kayamb
The kayamba is a flat musical instrument used in the Mascarene Islands to play sega and maloya music. It is called maravanne in Mauritius....
, a musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
from Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, as well as the hosho
Hosho (instrument)
The hosho are Zimbabwean musical instruments consisting of a pair of Maranka gourds with seeds. They typically contain hota seeds inside them. The hosho are used to accompany Shona music, especially mbira music. They make a rattling sound that western ears may be unaccustomed to hearing...
, a gourd
Gourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
from Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, where the seeds are known as "hota" seeds.
Taxonomy
In the last three decades of the 20th century, Canna species have been categorised by two different taxonomists, Paulus Johannes Maria MaasPaulus Johannes Maria Maas
Paulus Johannes Maria Maas is a botanist from the Netherlands and a specialist in the flora of the neotropics. Maas has identified and named about two hundred fifty plants from the Burmanniaceae, the Costus Family , the Gentian Family , the Bloodwort Family , the Banana Family , the Olacaceae, the...
from Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Nobuyuki Tanaka
Nobuyuki Tanaka
Nobuyuki Tanaka is an economic botanist at the Tokyo Metropolitan University, the Makino Botanical Garden in Kōchi prefecture, Japan and the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute , Japan....
from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Maas regards C. coccinea, C. compacta, C. discolor, C. patens and C. speciosa as synonyms or varieties of C. indica, while Tanaka recognises several additional varieties of C. indica.
- Canna indica var. indica L.
- A medium sized species; green foliage, oblong shaped, spreading habit; triangular stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured red, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals red, partial self-cleaning; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Linnaeus.
- Canna indica var. flava (Roscoe ex Baker) Nb. Tanaka
- Yellow bloom. Many plants previously offered as C. lutea fall into this sub-species.
- Canna indica var. maculata (Hook) Nb. Tanaka
- A medium sized species; green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; spikes of flowers are erect, yellow with red spots, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals green, fully self-cleaning, low bloomer; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is average. Introduced by Hook.. Many plants previously offered as Canna lutea fall into this sub-species.
- Canna indica var. sanctae rosea (Kraenzl) Nb. Tanaka
- A small species; green foliage, oval shaped, white margin, branching habit; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured pink, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, labellum is pink, stamen is pink, style is pink, petals red with farina, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type, capsules ellipsoid; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is prolific.
- Canna indica var. warszewiczii (A.Dietr.) Nb.Tanaka
- This variety is distinguishable from C. indica var. indica by having purple-red-margined leaves, purple-red fruits and slightly corm-like thickened terrestial stem at the base. Additionally to this, there are normally two staminodes , recurved backwards, and the stamen is often strongly reflexed at the apex. These characteristics are fairly stable in this taxon. Sometimes, this variety is confused with C. discolor Lindl., from which it differs in much smaller, deep-red coloured flowers, short and slender rhizomes and chromosone numbers (2n=27 in C. discolor and 2n=18 in C. indica var. warszewiczii)
Synonyms
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See also
- CannaCanna (plant)Canna is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants. The closest living relations to cannas are the other plant families of the order Zingiberales, that is the gingers, bananas, marantas, heliconias, strelitzias, etc.Canna is the only genus in the family Cannaceae...
- List of Canna cultivarsCanna (Plant) GalleryThis is a gallery of named canna cultivars, representative of the various Canna cultivar groups. Names of cultivars are regulated by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, are registered with an International Cultivar Registration Authority and conform to the rules of the...
- List of Canna hybridists
- List of Canna species