Canna indica L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Cannaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Canna indica L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Herb 0.5-2 m tall; rhizomes stout, often tuberous. Leaves ascending; blades 20-50 x 10-20 cm, ovate to elliptic, chartaceous, the apex acute to shortly acuminate, the base rounded, obtuse, or attenuate, the margins entire. Flowers large, showy, solitary or in 2-flowered cincinni along simple or branched inflorescences; bracts ovate to obovate, 1-3 cm long, purplish. Sepals narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm long; corolla red, 4.5-6.5 cm long, the tube 1-1.5 cm long, the lobes linear; outer staminodes narrowly elliptic, 5-7 cm long; inner staminodes recurved, narrowly oblong-ovate, 4.5-6.5 cm long; stamen 4-6 cm long; ovary tuberculate, the style as long as the stamen. Capsule ellipsoid to globose, purplish, 1.5-3 cm long, tuberculate. Seeds black, globose, numerous.

  • Discussion

    Common names: Indian-shoot, tolama, toolima.

  • Distribution

    An occasional escape along roadsides in humid areas. Bordeaux Road (A3869). Common throughout tropical America, naturalized in Asia and tropical Africa.

    Africa| Asia|