CANNA 



THE BULB BOOK 



CANNA 



difficult to manage. Growth usually 

 appears in spring, and from then 

 onwards should be encouraged with 

 a fair amount of water, according to 

 the rapidity or otherwise of vegeta- 

 tion. A mixture of loam, a little 

 leaf-soil, and a fair sprinkling of 

 coarse silver sand seems to be the 

 most suitable compost, and quite 

 nice bushy specimens may be ob- 

 tained in pots 5 ins. to 8 ins. in 

 diameter. When the shoots and 

 leaves begin to turn yellow, less 

 water should be given, and eventu- 

 ally withheld altogether during the 

 time the tuberous root-stocks are 

 resting. The plant may be propa- 

 gated by division when repotting in 

 spring, and also by taking short, 

 half-ripened cuttings of the non- 

 flowering side - shoots during the 

 summer and inserting them in a 

 very sandy soil in a close and shaded 

 frame. This plant deserves to be 

 more widely known and grown. 



CANNA (caw, a reed), INDIAN SHOT. 

 Nat. Ord. Scitamineae. A genus 

 of erect and often tall-growing peren- 

 nial herbs with thickish root-stocks, 

 ornamental leaves, and often gorgeous 

 flowers in erect simple or branched 

 racemes. Sepals and petals three. 

 Stamens petal-like, shortly tubular 

 at the base, with narrow or wedge- 

 shaped, oblong lobes, the outer ones 

 nearly equal, imbricate, sometimes 

 two more or less united, the third 

 one free, sometimes all absent; the 

 two inner ones narrower, one being 

 sterile, the other bearing a linear one- 

 celled anther with a petal-like lobe, 

 adnate at the side. Fruit a spiny, 

 three-celled capsule with numerous 

 hard, roundish, shot-like seeds, whence 

 the popular name " Indian Shot." 



In regard to this genus one cannot 

 do better than repeat the Practical 

 Guide to Garden Plants, p. 885 : 



"Although nearly one hundred 

 species [have been described, Mr. J. 

 G. Baker, who has studied these 

 plants closely, is of opinion that they 

 can all be reduced to about a dozen 

 distinct species. These are of little 

 use from an ornamental point of 

 view, and are confined chiefly to 

 botanical collections; but the mag- 

 nificent hybrids which have been 

 raised from them, and for which we 

 are indebted in the first place to 

 continental nurserymen, are among 

 the most showy and ornamental of 

 plants for the summer garden. One 

 of the first to obtain Canna hybrids 

 was a M. Ann^e of Paris, who in 1848 

 raised C. Anncei from seeds of C. 

 nepalensis, which had probably been 

 fertilised with the pollen of some 

 other unknown sort. This strain 

 became so popular that in 1861 over 

 20,000 tufts of it were raised for the 

 parks and squares of Paris, and from 

 it has been derived a large number of 

 the tall garden forms, having hand- 

 some foliage varying in colour from 

 soft green to reddish-purple. 



"In 1863 another fine strain was 

 raised from the Peruvian C. iridiflora, 

 and the Costa Kican (7. Warsceuriczi, 

 and although believed to have been 

 obtained first in Paris, was distributed 

 by M. Kolb, inspector of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Munich, being called at first 

 iridiflora hybrida, but afterwards 

 Ehemanni. 



"Within the last quarter of a 

 century several other species have 

 been taken in hand by such French 

 nurserymen as Crozy, Sisley, Vil- 

 morin, and Lemoine, and now we 

 have beautiful forms which are 

 variously known as ' Gladiolus - 

 flowered,' 'Orchid-flowered,' besides 

 numerous others simply called ' large- 

 flowered' varieties. Besides the 

 species mentioned above, discolor, 

 flaccida, glauca, liliiflora, and zebrina 



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