In this genus, as in the Orchis tribe, the labellum is merely 
one of the divisions of the perianth, or corolla, which generally 
takes a strikingly different form from the rest of the segments. 
In the present instance it is otherwise ; for, both in its direction 
and figure, it is almost the exact counterpart of the other seg- 
ments of the perianth, as may be seen at Fig. 1. & 2. of Tab. 48. 
In this species, too, as in C. patens, and probably all the indi- 
viduals of the genus which are said to have a trifid interior 
limb of the corolla, two, out of the three segments, are united 
half-way up from below, as if in reality they formed but one 
segment split at the extremity, as may be observed at Fio- 2 
ofTa&.48. 
• 
M. Desfontaines appears, according to Redoute, to 
be the first person who described this species in the Catalogue 
of the Paris Botanic Garden ; and the last-named able artist 
has given a splendid figure of it in his Plantes Liliacees, from 
the description to which we learn, that although it had been 
mtroduced a considerable number of years ago into the gardens 
about Paris, yet that its native place of growth was unknown. 
The same remark is made by Mr Gawler in the Botanical 
Register; and unfortunately I am not able to fill up the blank 
in the history of this species. 
Our plants were received from Mr Shepherd of Liver- 
pool : they flowered readily with us in November, and again in 
the February following, and make a far more striking appear- 
ance, not only from the form and bright beauty of their foliage, 
but also from the size and colour of their flowers, than any 
other species of the genus, the very rare C. iridiflora alone ex- 
excepted. They have, however, the inconvenient fault of re- 
quiring a great deal of room. 
Tab. 47. Single stem of Canna gigantea, reduced to about ^^th of the natu- 
ral size. Tab. 48. Panicle of flowers of Canna gigantea, naL size. Fig. 1 . 
Front view of a flower; a. The calyx; b, h. The outer limb of the co- 
rolla; c,c,c. The three segments of the inner limb of the corolla; d. The 
labellum ; e. The stamen;/. The style, and stigma. Fig. 2. Back view 
of a flower, from which the calyx and exterior limb of the corolla have 
been removed; a, Point of insertion of the calyx ; h. Point of insertion 
of the exterior limb of the corolla; c, c, c, The three segments of the inner 
limb of the corolla; d, The labellum; e, The stamen;/. The style,— 
very slightly magnified. 
