THE SPECIES AND GARDEN FORMS OF CANNA. 



181 



and coccinea ; of Old World forms with three staminodia, orien- 

 talis and flauesccns ; and of New World forms with two outer 

 staminodia, compacta, lutea, pallida, aurantiaca, and variabilis. 

 C. lanuginosa of Roscoe (C. Achiras of Gillies) has pubescent 

 stems and two oblanceolate red-yellow staminodia. C. p> c dun- 

 culata, Sims, figured Bot. Mag. t. 2323, has flowers considerably 

 smaller than in indica, with three pale yellow outer staminodia. 

 C. Warcciciczii of Dietrich, figured Bot. Mag. 1. 1851, introduced 

 from Costa Rica by Yon Warcewicz in 1819, has stem and leaves 

 tinged with red-brown, and much larger flowers than in inclica, 

 of plain bright scarlet. C. Fintelmanni, first figured by Bouche 

 in 1858, may be a garden product. It has the habit and foliage 

 of indica, with three larger staminodia of a plain bright lemon- 

 yellow. And, finally, in this group C. glanca is a well-marked 

 species universally diffused throughout Tropical America, with 

 narrower, more acute, more glaucous leaves than in indica, three 

 much longer pale yellow outer staminodia, and much larger 

 capsules and seeds. 



Of the tall species of true Canna with deeply forked stems, 

 one belongs to the Old World. This is C. speciosa of Roscoe, 

 figured Bot. Mag. t. 2317, which has green stems 5 to 6 feet 

 long, oblong leaves 1\ to 2 feet long, and two bright red emar- 

 ginate outer staminodia, longer but scarcely broader than those 

 of C. indica. There are four tall South American species. 

 C. edulis of Kew, figured Bot. Mag. t. 2198, is widely cultivated 

 throughout the Tropics for the sake of its tuberous rootstock, which 

 yields Canna starch, or tous les mois, of which a full account 

 will be found in Bentley and Trimen's "Medicinal Plants" 

 under plate 2G6. The type has three bright red outer staminodia , 

 which are both longer and broader than in C. indica. The stem 

 is much more robust and the capsule larger. C. Lambert i, 

 Lindl., figured Bot. Mag. t. 470, scarcely differs in flower and 

 leaf from C. edulis. C. latifolia of Miller, called also gigantca 

 and macrophylla, reaches a height of 12 to 16 feet, with lower 

 leaves sometimes 3 to 1 feet long. It extends to 8,000 feet in 

 the mountains of New Granada, and has three oblanceolate 

 bright red outer staminodia not larger than those of C. indica. 

 C. polyclada is a tall, deeply forked Brazilian species, with two 

 small bright red outer staminodia not longer than the petals. 

 And finally, C. discolor, Lindl., figured Bot. Beg. t. 1231, intro- 



