Mr RoscoE, who first bestowed on C. indica, in the 8th vo- 
lume of the Linnean Transactions, a character by which it 
may be distinguished from its congeners ; and I have the sa- 
tisfaction of being able to say, that on Mr Roscoe's inspec- 
tion of the accompanying figure, he pronounced it to be a spot- 
ted flowered variety of his Canna indicay the original colour of 
which is wholly scarlet. The rarity of the individual in que- 
stion must plead my apology for introducing in this work a va- 
riation from the common type of a species, — a practice that will 
be avoided, in future, as much as possible. 
What plant was originally intended by Linn^us to bear 
the name of Canna indica, will now, perhaps, be never pre- 
cisely determined ; or rather, if one may judge from his refe- 
rences, that author had, more probably, no one particular species 
in view. Mr Aiton, in the first edition of the Hortus Kew- 
ensis, included four species, according to Mr Roscoe, under 
that name. In the second edition, Mr Roscoe's C. indica is 
taken up, and his specific character adopted ; but there is a re- 
ference to a figure in Redoute's Plantes Liliacees (t. 201.), 
which, having but two segments to the inner limb of the co- 
rolla, cannot belong to this plant, and which, though not quo- 
ted by Mr Sims in the Botanical Magazine, seems to me 
exactly to correspond with C. speciosa (t. 2317.) of that work. 
The Messrs Shepherd have lately informed me, that not 
even in their rich collection of Scltamineous plants at Liver- 
pool, are they sure of possessing, at this time, the true C. in- 
dica ; and that the present variety was quite unknown to them, 
as well as to Mr Roscoe. 
Fig. 1. Summit of a plant. Fig. 2. Germen and calyx. Fig. 3. Outer limb 
of the corolla. Fig. 4. Flower deprived of the Calyx and outer limb. — 
AU of the natural size. 
