INDIAN SHOT 541 
INDIAN BHOT 
Natural Order ScITAMINEZ. Genus Canna 
CANNA (said to be Celtic, canna, a cane). A genus of about thirty 
species of perennial herbs with large ornamental foliage, and panicles of 
—in many cases—brightly coloured flowers, in which the calyx consists 
of three small green leaf-like growths that remain on the top of the 
capsule; the corolla is represented by three similar but longer, green, 
leaf-like organs; whilst the showy parts of the flower, misnamed the 
petals, are really the stamens, which assume the appearance of petals, 
and upon only one of them is the one-celled anther. The style is 
also petal-like, ending in a slender stigma. The fruit is covered 
with rough tubercles, and when ripe splits into three divisions, 
setting free the hard, black, round shot-like seeds which have earned 
for these plants their popular name. They are natives of Tropical 
countries. 
Some of these plants are important on account of the 
starch stored in their fleshy underground stems, and certain 
of these are in consequence used as vegetables. They have been in 
cultivation in English stoves for centuries, and are planted-out during 
the hottest part of the summer for sub-tropical gardening. Canna 
indica was introduced from India about 1570, C. lutea from the West 
Indies in 1629, C. coccinea and C. glauca from South America in 1731 
and 1732 respectively. In 1778 C. flaccida was introduced from South 
Carolina, and C. patens from Rio. In 1820 C. edulis, which furnishes 
Tous les mois, came from Peru, and C. speciosa from South America. C. 
Warscewiczii came from Costa Rica in 1849. From the best of these 
species a considerable number of hybrids have been produced, which are 
horticulturally much finer than the original species; they are con- 
sequently in greater demand as garden plants. They are principally the 
product of C. discolor, C. wridiflora, and C. Warscewiczii. 
CANNA DISCOLOR (two-coloured). Stems stout, reddish, 
6 feet high. Leaves large, broad, oval-oblong; upper 
streaked with purple, lower tinged blood-red. Flowers red. Introduced 
from Peete 1829. 
pica (India). Indian Shot, or Indian Reed. Stems 3 to 6 feet 
high. ae large, oval-lance-shaped. Flowers large, light yollow and 
carmine-red. 
C. IRIDIFLORA (Iris-flowered). Stems 6 to 8 feet high. ie 
IV.—12 
History. 
Principal Species. 
