4 THE CONARD & JONES CO. 



THE CANNA 



A Short Sketch of It's Origin and 

 Development. 



THE Canna was a tropical plant indigenous to 

 South and Central America and the West 

 Indies. One species, Canna Flaccida, is a 

 native of Florida. These wild varieties 

 were gathered by collectors and taken to Europe, 

 where they were grown and the flowers developed 

 by the leading horticulturists. 



The development of The Improved Cannas, as 

 we have them to-day, is comparatively recent. A 

 few generations ago, the Canna or "Indian Shot 

 Plant" as it was called (on account of its hard 

 round seed) was principally used for decorative 

 purposes because of its luxuriant tropical foliage, 

 the plant growing to a height of 6 to 7 feet. While 

 good foliage is a desirable quality, the early hybri- 

 dizers devoted their attention to increasing the 

 size of the flowers and also their range of colors. 



The Canna that created the greatest furore, 

 about a quarter of a century ago, was Mme. Crozy, 

 which was originated by Mons. Crozy of France and 

 the introduction of this still famous, large-flower- 

 ing variety was an incentive to other breeders 

 in the horticultural world to make use of the 

 possibilities which lay in the Canna flower. A few 

 years later, in the early 90's, Damman of Italy sent 

 out the wonderful orchid-flowering types of which 

 Austria and Italia are fair representatives. 



These orchid-flowering varieties produced the 

 largest flowers in existence, but they were lacking 

 in durability and early-flowering habits, which de- 

 fect has been remedied by later introductions, in- 

 cluding New York, Louisiana, King Humbert and 



