E in Europe by the name of 
The principal distinctions between the Canna of America, S80 long known 1n Peay 
, . : ist in the segments of the upper 
Canna indica, and that of the East Indies, here denominated Canna orientalis, consist in the seg’ pp 
eee Pe ; in the Canna orientalis 
lip of the interior limb of the corolla, which, in the Canna indica, are intire and pointed, but in 
: ° iki distinction 
are bidentate, or notched. This is also the case in the lower lip, which affords a much more striking dis , 
as there are scarcely any other species of Canna than the true indica, in which the lip is found intire— 
The leaves of Canna orientalis are also considerably broader than those of Canna indica, and the habit 
of the plants, when compared together in a living state, exhibit such a striking difference as immediately to 
distinguish them, not only as different species, but as each of them included under a different section of the plants 
of this genus, as regards their general habit ; one of which would include the kindred species of Canna indica, patens, 
and limbata, the other Canna orientalis, coccinea, pallida, and lutea. 
This plant (the Canna orientalis) seems to have been well known to Willdenow, who cultivated it in 
the Royal Garden at Berlin, and has accurately described it in his Enumeratio of the Plants growing there, 
under the name of Canna chinensis, (vol. i. p. 2.)—He is, however, mistaken in referring it to the Canna 
indica, (5) var. patens of Aiton, Hort. Kew. vol. i. p. 1. to which he seems to have been led by the reflexed 
segments of the corolla; not, perhaps, having observed that in his Canna chinensis, it is the segments of the 
exterior limb, in the patens, those of the interior limb, that are reflexed. The Canna patens of Aiton must, 
therefore, be excluded as a eynOnita for this plant; the very general dispersion of which through the Kast has 
induced us to adopt the present appellation, in preference to the more local one of Chinensis, even on the authority 
of Willdenow himself; ‘habitat in India orientali.” Enum. Berol. vol. i. p. 2. 
The mistake of Willdenow, in citing the Canna patens as a synonim for his Canna chinensis, seems to have 
been followed by Roemer and Schultes, who, in their last edition of Linnzeus, have cited the Canna chinensis of 
Willdenow as their Canna patens; although it is wholly different in those characters on which the species of this 
numerous genus principally depend; in particular, the segments of the interior limb in the patens are intire, in 
the chinensis they are cloven or notched ; in the patens it is only the sections of the inner limb of the corolla that 
are reflexed, or rather slightly revolute; in the chinensis it is the sections of the outer limb that are reflexed, or bent 
directly backwards ; a circumstance which does not, however, always occur in the young flowers, and which justifies 
the cautious expression of Willdenow, “ laciniis exterioribus demum reflexis.” 
The peculiarities adverted to in the Canna orientalis, are sufficiently shewn in the figure of the flower in the 
Hort. Mal. of Van Rheede, of which the following is a copy :— 
a. Segment of the upper lip of interior limb of the corolla. 
b. Lower lip of corolla. 
c. Segment of exterior limb of corolla, reflexed. 
REFERENCES. 
. Sections of upper lip of interior limb of corolla. 
. Filament and anther, style and stigma. 
Lip. 
. Exterior limb of corolla. 
. Germen and calyx. 
aa Fo Yr 
. Filament, anther, style, and stigma, before the flower unfold 
2 S. 
