THE SPECIES AND GARDEN FORMS OF CANNA. 179 



very distinct type of floral structure. The flower- wrapper, 

 which is distinctly dichlamydeous, is comparatively small and 

 inconspicuous. The three small green oolong lobes which 

 are persistent on the top of the fruit represent the calyx. The 

 three segments of the corolla are longer, quite equal, usually 

 lanceolate, and show but little bright colour. It is the abortive 

 stamens, which are much longer than the petals, and brightly 

 coloured, usually red or yellow, which form the handsome part 

 of the flower. In the whole genus Canna there is only developed 

 a single one-celled anther, which is placed on one side near the 

 summit of a petaloid staminode. The number of petaloid 

 staminodia which are developed varies in the different species. 

 The style is simple and adnate at the base to the tube, which is 

 formed by the connate claws of the staminodia. It is free 

 upwards, and flattened, with a single simple terminal stigma. 

 The fruit is an echinate capsule, with numerous seeds in each of 

 its three cells. In the Bananas, five out of the six stamens take 

 on the ordinary form, and there are no brightly coloured petaloid 

 staminodia, the sixth stamen being represented by a small 

 subulate process, which is destitute of any anther. In the 

 Gingers there is a single two-celled anther, an undivided or 

 bifid labellum, which represents a stamen, not a petal of the 

 inner row, as in the Orchids, and two other petaloid staminodia 

 are developed in Hedychium and Krempferia, but nearly or quite 

 suppressed in Amomiun, Zingiber, Alpinia, and Costus. In 

 the Arrowroots (Maranta, Phrynium, Calathea, &c.) there is 

 only a single one-celled anther, as in the Cannas ; but in several 

 of the genera the ovary has only one developed cell, the two 

 other cells being minute and sterile. The curious genus Lowia, 

 Scortechini (=Orchidantha, N. E. Brown), has the habit of a 

 Ginger, five perfect stamens, and three very unequal petals, the 

 two upper small and lanceolate, and the lower large and oblong- 

 unguiculate, like the labellum of an Orchis. 



The Subgenera and Species of Canna. 



All the species of Canna resemble one another closely in 

 habit, foliage, and the structure of the flower, fruit, and seed. 

 There are four well-marked sections, which Horaninow has treated 

 as genera, which differ from one another mainly in the number of 



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