Exciting variegation breakthrough

Most of the variegated Cannas we grow are derived from mutations of the Italian Group, the two exceptions to that being Canna 'Kansas City', a Crozy Group mutation and C. 'Stuttgart', a Foliage Group mutation. The Italian Group variegated mutations are: C. 'Bengal Tiger', C. 'Durban', C. 'Phasion', C. 'Pringle Bay', C. 'Trinacria Variegata', C. 'Yellow King Humbert'. Although the Italians are almost seed sterile, a few seeds have been produced, However, there is no recorded instance of any seedlings being produced that carried the variegation trait.

Ms. Alice Harris of Karchesky Canna reports a breakthrough, having produced a Foliage Group canna that she has grown for a number of years now, and that originated from seed and has leaf variegation. The variegation has been stable in this plant for at least three years. The plant was tested for virus last summer and was given the all-clear, so this is a true variegation, and not induced by external means. The plant freely gives seed.

Alice started planting it's seeds late last summer as another experiment, and all seedlings to date have had variegation. She has just repeated the experiment, with another batch of seeds, to confirm the result.

As yet, it has not been established if the blooms are true-to-type, but that should be confirmed this summer when both batches come into flower.

It is interesting to see that the trait for variegation can be transmitted to seed-grown offspring, and this breakthrough offers some interesting future possibilities.

Alice has promised to take photographs regularly this season, and to share them with us, so that we can all join in the experience.

Click on image to visit the Karchesky web site

Introducing Canna 'Apricot Butterfly'

From Bernard Yorke in Australia comes details of yet another new Australian Group cultivar, again a descendant of Canna 'Red Stripe’.

This one has green foliage, as can be seen in the photograph, and the leaves are quite long and wide, plants grow quite easily to 2 metres with masses of lush foliage and long sprays of small apricot blooms. The seed pods are very large and round, with the seed itself being extra large as well.

Bernard states that this is a good one as a parent plant for future hybridization, but I find those large apricot spikes so appealing that I think it could become a firm favourite in its own right.

Cannas by Bernard Yorke

Roots growth explained

Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have discovered how roots find their way past obstacles to grow through soil. The discovery also explains how germinating seedlings penetrate the soil without pushing themselves out as they burrow.

“The key is in the fuzzy coat of hairs on the roots of plants” says Professor Liam Dolan. “We have identified a growth control mechanism that enables these hairs to find their way and to elongate when their path is clear”.

Root hairs explore the soil in much the same way as a person would feel their way in the dark. If they come across an obstacle, they feel their way around until they can continue growing in an opening. In the meantime, the plant is held in place as the hairs grip the soil.

This ability is governed by a self-reinforcing cycle. A protein at the tip of root hairs called RHD2 produces free radicals that stimulate the uptake of calcium from the soil. Calcium then stimulates the activity of RHD2, producing more free radicals and further uptake of calcium. When an obstacle blocks the hair’s path, the cycle is broken and growth starts in another location and direction.

“This remarkable system gives plants the flexibility to explore a complex environment and to colonise even the most unpromising soils”, says Professor Dolan. “It also explains how seedlings are able to grow so quickly once they have established”.

In nutrient poor soils such as in parts of Australia and sub-Saharan Africa, plants have adapted by producing more root hairs. A better understanding of this adaptation will allow the development of crops able to grow in inhospitable environments.

This research was funded by the BBSRC, a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship and MEXT of Japan.

Introducing Canna 'Jessie Dalebö'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; bronze foliage, oval shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured purple with white farina; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured red, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, labellum is occasionally marked with saffron-yellow, petals purple, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured pink and purple; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2003. The breeding is C. 'Red Futurity' x open pollination. Flowers continuously in the UK from late June until the first frosts.

Malcolm states, "I think that this is one of the finest black foliage Cannas, and I would place it alongside C. 'La France' and C. Australia'."

Almost ready to go for it!

What a wonderful long weekend. Some rain, but mostly warm, balmy days. The seedling Cannas in their pots look healthy in their polytunnel, and the collection growing directly in soil in the large polytunnel have never looked healthier this time of the year. The aches in my back and knees are easily overcome by the feeling of sheer pleasure at starting gardening again in warm weather!

The Cannas have all had several doses of fungicide since the New Year, and yesterday I also gave them a dose of liquid seaweed fertilizer. The outdoor borders, where the collection will grow this summer have been dug, pelleted chicken fertilizer has been added in large quantities, and they have been covered with clear plastic sheeting. The sheeting will serve to warm up the beds, which are still cold and wet, and will also quickly germinate any seed on the surface. A couple of days before planting out I will visit them with a hoe, so we start the season without needing a hard weeding session.

The temperatures are fine, and the 10 day weather forecast shows a minimum night temperature of 9° C. over that period, so no frosts threaten. Yet I am hesitant to move the collection and seedlings outside yet. There is still time for wind from the north to bring frosts with it, and that would be the demise of the collection, with so many new tender shoots in evidence.

So, I intend to wait until next weekend and review the 10 day weather forecast then, and if it looks good then I will go for it! It will take two weekends to move the 200 large pots outdoors, and to transplant the collections 200+ specimens in their prepared borders, but I am looking forward to it so much after 6 months of hibernation.

I am not looking forward to the body aches that I will pick up, but the pleasure of seeing the Collection growing outdoors again will override the discomfort!

Another recent acquisition that I am looking forward to watch growing this year

Introducing Canna 'Jacob's Coat'

A medium sized Foliage Group cultivar; green foliage, oblong shaped, spreading habit; triangular stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are erect, red and yellow, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2002.

Canna News: Red Spider Mite

Get ready for red spider mite.

Introducing Canna 'Imagination'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; dark green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; flowers are open, red-orange with a narrow gold margin, staminodes are large, edges irregular, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007.

Breeding is Canna 'Gaeity' x open

Canna News: How Crozy did it

Species and Varieties, their Origin by Mutation

Introducing Canna 'Anette Dalebö'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, saffron-yellow and orange-red, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, style is gold, petals red, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. Seedling from C. 'Tangerine' x C. 'Theresa Blakey'.

Introducing Canna 'Ellen Layden'

A small Miniature Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; triangular stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured deep-pink, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, labellum is gold with a deep-pink margin, stamen is gold with a narrow deep-pink margin, style is gold, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. Seedling of C. ‘Topaz’ x C. ‘Theresa Blakey’.

The lost 6 months - dry rhizomes

Canna 'Uncle Sam', photo by Malcolm McFarland

For Cannas in the rhizome trade it is quite simple. They have the foliage chopped off and the rhizomes are ripped out of the field at first frosts, they go through a high pressure water spraying system that removes most of the soil still clinging to them. They dry for a week or so in a controlled temperature, then they are hand separated and packaged ready for sale.

Up until then everything went just fine for the Cannas, but now the problems start. The packaged rhizomes enter the distribution chain, and they spend their time in warehouses and despatch points in temperatures that are very often uncontrolled. Eventually, in January they arrive at the premises of the final part of the chain, the garden centres. There they go onto sales racks and any weak ones perish there, with no water, and little light. No more to say, except that they stay there slowly dehydrating until May and early June, when they get offered in 2-4-1 deals to cover up their disadvantaged state.

For the survivors, the rhizomes sold through the rhizome trade are normally very dry by the time they are sold to the public, and I feel that they should not be judged at all that first year. The rhizomes are normally very de-hydrated and the root system is normally dried out and useless. All the remaining energy stored in the rhizome has to be used to protect its very life existence and is mainly used to grow a new root system.

If it is planted in soil with little nutritious value, then it is now in a doomed cycle. Growing a new root system means it does not have the energy available to produce large, luxurious foliage or produce large expansive blooms. It will grow some foliage to allow the capture of more energy to keep it alive, and that will probably be sub-standard, showing its state of stress. It may produce minimum flowers in a desperate attempt to produce some seed to ensure its DNA lives on, but nothing that will enlighten the heart of a gardener. So the Canna manages to hang onto life, but the gardener thinks it is a poor variety and doesn't deserve to have space in the garden again.

Gardeners who give up on Cannas at this point have just lost out on one of life's raffles. So many, if nurtured properly through the winter and grown on in good conditions next year will more than make the grade. I believe that many plants thrown out as having virus are just heavily stressed through mistreatment. That doesn't mean that many don't have virus, I am sure that they do, but my guess is that at least 50% are just suffering from this mishandling during the lost 6 months.

Introducing Canna 'Hilary Owens'

A small Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured deep coral, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, petals red, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006.

Cannas not politically correct

Yew must be joking! Grower's fury at Monty Don's call to use only British plants

Extracted from an article by REBECCA CAMBER in the Daily Mail, 25 April 2008.

They say you reap what you sow. And when Monty Don returned to the United Kingdom from a tour of the world's greatest gardens to extol the virtues of British plants above others, he presumably hoped to inspire.

Instead, the BBC presenter has ignited controversy by telling growers to stick to our native species and turf out foreign ones.

Don - who recently hosted the Around The World In 80 Gardens series - now stands accused of trying to uproot thousands of years of plant-collecting history in the UK.

At the Oxford Literary Festival, he told his audience: "British gardeners must learn to tell you a story through their gardens."

"Gardening with indigenous plants and working with nature by tweaking it is so much more interesting than imposing on to the natural world."

"The interesting gardens are related to geographical/historical/ personal context."

"Growing plants in a garden that would not exist without you is not very interesting."

In a recent interview, the Gardeners' World presenter - who has pledged to plant only native species in his Herefordshire garden - said: "Elsewhere in the world, indigenous plants play a key part in establishing national identity."

"We have an incredibly rich and fascinating plant heritage which we downplay - so I am planting oak, ash, hawthorn, yew, aspen and alder, as well as primroses, violets, roses."

So, should we go native in our gardens? The rundown of British plants and their foreign friends

But his rallying call met with a prickly reception.

Dr Mark Johnstone, a lecturer at Myerscough College, Preston, and an expert on native versus foreign planting, said: "I'm amazed someone as high profile as Monty Don should recommend sticking to native British plants.

"He is confusing biodiversity and native plants. Plants and trees are used for social, economic and environmental reasons."

Luke Harding, manager of Westonbirt-plant centre, said: "Doing away with 'foreign' plants would effectively wipe out several thousand years of plant- collecting history.

"The vast array of non-native plants available in Britain is something that we are recognised for and that has given us our identity."

Nottingham University grounds manager Ian Cooke said: "Has Monty lost the plot? Does he think gardeners will take his suggestions seriously when we have a wonderful palette of exotic plants from around the world that seem to thrive in our unpredictable climate?"

Guy Barter, of the Royal Horticultural Society, said: "The RHS suggests that a range of native and non-indigenous garden plants are good for wildlife. There is no reason to restrict yourself to native plants, of which there are rather few. In fact it's essential for wildlife to have a healthy mix of native and non-native plants."

My personal comment would be that it is good to see Ian Cooke standing up for real gardens, and I believe that not only has Don lost the plot, he's lost the garden as well! How can anybody treat this clown seriously after coming out with such baloney?

And why? It won't save the planet, it would just make our lives so much poorer. Just to satisfy the ego of this over-opinionated TV presenter? Most definitely not a real gardener!

Sorry if I shouted a bit there, but I do feel so passionately about the many styles of gardens we have created over the centuries, and, of course, the role of Cannas, a non-native plant, in those gardens.

Introducing Canna 'Arne Dalebö'

A medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, large, oval-acuminate shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; oval stems, coloured purple; panicles of flowers are open, red-orange streaked with scarlet, throat orange-red, staminodes are large, edges frilled, labellum is orange-red, stamen is orange-red, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is fertile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006.

Named for Arne Dalebö, who, in 1940 fled to the Shetland Isles from Norway in a stolen fishing boat, to escape the pursuing Gestapo, and fought on in the Royal Norwegian Airforce in the R.A.F. No. 331 (Norwegian) Squadron. The squadron defended London from 1941 onwards, and was the highest scoring fighter squadron in South England during the war.

Sport of C. ‘Nero’.

The lost six months - introduction

Here in northern Europe we plant our Cannas outside in early to mid May and we bring them back indoors again in late October, or early November. So for six months of the year our Cannas are stuck away, normally out of sight, and left to get on with it; whatever that means.

That is half the life-time of our Cannas, where we don't really understand what is going on. Cannas are not bulbs, they do not have a dormant period. They grow for 52 weeks each year and bad things that happen to our Cannas happen during that 6 month period, where they are trying to grow, but the environment does not allow it.

A few articles follow, which explore the lost six months. In the meantime, here is a picture of a Canna 'Africa' in full bloom! It is not shown for any good reason, other than it is not a well known cultivar, so the picture may be interesting.

Introducing Canna 'Bevere'

A small Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are orange with peach stripes, edges frilled, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. Seedling of C. ‘Topaz’ x self.

Canna News: Star of the Day: Canna X 'Van Houttei'

A heritage cultivar rejoins the Canna world.

Introducing Canna 'Alice McGuigan'

A tall Crozy Group cultivar; dark foliage, upright habit; round stems, coloured purple; panicles of flowers are reflexed, burnt-red rayed with apricot, throat apricot, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, petals purple, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006.

Seedling from C. ‘Ingebourg’ x open.

Canna News: Wild species tamed

At long last the confusion over Canna species is solved!

Introducing Canna 'Berenice Emsley'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured red, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, petals red with farina, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is average. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006.

Seedling of C. ‘Merle Cole’ x C. ‘Jessie Dalebö’.

Canna News: Systemic sprays give virus protection

Systemic sprays give virus protection.

Pollution threatening bees

Bees under threat as pollution means flowers are losing their natural scent. As Canna growers we rely on honey bees to pollinate most of our flowers.

They are a quintessential sign of summer - the scent of blossom on the wind and the buzzing of bees. But scientists claim that both are now under threat - as flowers lose their natural scent due to pollution.

A new study suggests that gases from car emission are dulling floral aromas and disrupting insect life.

Gases from car emission are dulling floral aromas and disrupting insect life, says study

Researchers claim pollution is dramatically cutting the distance travelled by the scent molecules of plants.

This is preventing flowers from attracting bees and other insects needed to pollinate them.

As a consequence, the numbers of insects are dramatically dwindling as they struggle to located the nectar off which they feed.

Professor Jose Fuentes, of the University of Virginia, which carried out the research, said: "Scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,2000 metres.

"But today they may only travel 200 to 300 metres. "This makes it increasingly difficult for bees and other insects to locate the flowers."

The study, funded by the US National Science Foundation, examined the smell given off by snapdragons.

They found that the scent molecules are volatile and quickly bond with pollutants, such as ozone and nitrate radicals - formed mainly from vehicle emissions. This chemically alters the molecules so that they no longer smell like flowers.

As a result, bees and other insects - which rely on the scent of flowers to locate them - fail to do so and do not get enough food.

The ability of the insects to attract mates and repel enemies is also impeded, scientists fear.

While the flowers, which rely on insects to pollinate them, also suffer. Scientists have found that bees, which pollinate most of the world's crops, are in unprecedented decline in Britain and across much of the globe.

At least a quarter of America's 2.5million honey bee colonies have been wiped out by colony collapse disorder (CCD) where hives are found to be suddenly deserted.

Although the mysterious phenomenon has yet to appear in the UK, insect numbers have been declining here too.

Agricultural minister Lord Rooker has warned that "the honey bee population could be wiped out in 10 years".

The scientists do not believe pollution is necessarily the cause of CCD but they claim it is making it harder for many insects to survive.

Research shows it is not just insects that are affected by the actions of humans. The number of birds visiting our gardens and parks has plunged by a fifth in four years, a survey has revealed.

The decline follows a succession of mild winters and the growing popularity of paving and decking, which robs gardens of valuable plants and insects.

Changes in farming techniques, a decline in hedgerows and increased used of pesticides may also have hit bird numbers.

Introducing Canna 'John Layden'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, transparent margin, branching habit; spikes of flowers are open, cerise-pink with a narrow gold margin, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, petals yellow; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and purple; tillering is slow.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2002. Breeding is Canna 'A. Eisenbarth' x open

The many uses of Canna

1. The leaves are washed and used in water as a cure for fever in Nigeria and in Gabon, especially for children.
2. In Ghana they are pounded and put into baths for fever.
3. For jaundice the Brong of Ivory Coast take a leaf-macerate in draught and in eye-instillations and the Akye add the pounded leaves to a prescription with other drug-plants for taking by draught and as a wash.
4. The tender shoots are applied to bruises and cuts in Nigeria. The steins produce an emollient and analgesic action, and this is made use of in Ivory Coast to assuage rheumatic pains, buboes, urethritis and even fractures, and for coughs, fevers and jaundice.
5. In Congo a tisane is given to children to sooth paroxysmal coughing in whooping-cough, and the sap is applied to sores and to arrest bleeding.
6. The Shien of Ivory Coast cook the stems wrapped in Maranta or banana leaf and apply the juice which is expressed as an embrocation for painful breasts.
7. In India the stalks are chopped up and boiled in rice-water with pepper and fed to cattle as an antidote after eating poisonous grasses.
8. The leaves serve as wrapping for food in Ghana and doubtless elsewhere in W Africa.
9. In India and SE Asia the leaves are commonly used to wrap parcels.
10. A fibre can be extracted from the plant and is of a quality to substitute jute in the making of twine and sacking.
11. The roots are starchy. Starch has been extracted in a small way in Indochina. They are eaten in Asia, and have been eaten in W Africa in time of dearth.
12. In parts of Kenya the root and in Malawi the whole plant is cultivated as a cattle-food.
13. More generally the roots have medicinal applications. The powdered root is taken in Nigeria as a cure for diarrhoea and dysentery.
14. In Gabon the rhizome is used in enemas against dysentery and intestinal worms, and an aqueous decoction is taken in Congo by women with irregular menses.
15. In India the roots are recognized as diaphoretic and diuretic and are administered in fevers and dropsy.
16. The flowers are said in Ghana to be good for curing eye-disease.
17. They contain a little sweet nectar which is used as a bait to trap birds.
18. The seeds are black, hard and the size of a pea. The English name, ‘Indian shot’, derives from their occasional use in India as shot for guns.
19. In Ghana children use them in popguns.
20. Throughout Africa and Asia they are used as beads for stringing into necklaces and rosaries, and making into rattles.
21. Several Ghanaian names refer to ‘European’s rosary’ indicating an exotic origin.
22. The seeds are used in S Nigeria as counters in a game of chance called ido, the name being taken from the Yoruba name of the plant ido or idora. The looser of the game acquires the title ọmọ-odobo, lit. ‘awkward child’. No medicinal usage of the seeds is recorded for the Region.
23. In SE Asia they may be pounded to a paste for poulticing headaches.
24. A trace of alkaloid has been reported in Nigerian material.
25. The seeds also yield an attractive evanescent purple dye.
26. The plant enters into a Yoruba invocation for protection against wizards and witches who are said not to eat ido, and to help little children to stand.
27. A purple-leafed form is used in ordeal trials in Gabon in cases of alleged adultery.

Canna News: Low Cost - Indestructable - Plant Labels

How to make your own low cost - indestructible - plant labels.

Introducing Canna 'Sophia Young'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; triangular stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are open, burnt-red rayed with old-rose, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, petals red, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.
Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. Seedling of C. 'Joseph Buchan' x open pollination. Thanks to Dale for the seed.

Frosts destroyed our plants again!

For the second year running we, at Claines Canna, have lost 1,000+ Canna rhizomes that I had patiently cleaned, divided and packaged ready for distribution in trades and sales. I spent many days of my life, that I will never have back again, creating these packages.

The losses were caused again by failure of our electric thermostatically controlled heaters. Last year the losses were caused by a failure in the electric supply on the coldest day of the year.

To see the labeled plastic bags full of black rotting rubbish is soul destroying, and I have had enough for this year. Sorry if we had organized trades or sales, but all we have left is the collection, and a few spares that Margaret is selling on eBay.

Right now I feel totally deflated and I I just want to concentrate on getting our collection outside growing in the soil again, intact and ready for a great year of growing.

Describe Cannas: Rhizomes

It was Dr Nobuyuki Tanaka, the Japanese taxonomist, who created a set of working measurements for Canna rhizomes, and he used them to help him categorize the wild species, resulting in his Taxonomic revision of the family Cannaceae in the New World and Asia in 2001. This revision was the start of bringing order to the chaos we had previously experienced in naming of our Canna species. The categories defined by Tanaka are:

1. thick, up to 3 cm in diameter
2. thick, up to 7 cm in diameter
3. long and thin
4. tuber-like groups
5. no rhizomes
   

To the first four specified by Tanaka, we have added the fifth category. At Claines Canna we have grown C. paniculata that did not have any rhizomatic growth, and Dale McDonnell, in Australia, has had this same experience, having inherited an old Foliage Group specimen that displays the same characteristic.

We have used this classification for some years now, and we cannot find any fault with it.

Canna seeds last forever

Although most sensational claims for seed longevity are almost certainly bogus, seeds of Canna compacta apparently can live for at least 600 years. Viable Canna seeds were obtained from inside a walnut (Juglans australis) in a tomb in Argentina.

The Canna seeds had apparently been inserted into the immature seeds of a growing walnut fruit before the hard outer shell formed. Once the shell hardened and the nut dried out, the result was a rattle. Native people strung the rattles together to form a necklace.

In this case, the seeds had to be at least as old as the walnut shell, and carbon dating of the shell indicated that it was about 600 years old (Bewley and Black 1994).

The seeds were planted and subsequently germinated. Unfortunately, there is no trace of the plants grown from that seed, which would have been of great interest to the species collectors.

Reference:

Ed. Lerman, J. C. and E. M. Cigliano. 1971. New carbon-14 evidence for six hundred years old Canna compacta seed. Nature 232: 568--570