Canna 'Roi Humbert 1st'

A medium sized Italian Group cultivar; bronze foliage, ovoid shaped, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured purple; panicles of flowers are cupped, self-coloured scarlet, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, fully self-cleaning, blooms open in the early morning; seed is sterile, pollen is sterile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is average.
Introduced by C. Sprenger, Damman & Co., Naples, Italy, EU in 1901. Sprenger stated "King Humbert will surprise the horticultural world".
The cultivar is the result of an F2 crossing involving C. 'Madame Crozy', C. flaccida and C. 'Italia'. Its rhizomes are heavily marked with maroon and have the shape of the indica side of the family, as do the leaves. The colour of the flower comes from the Crozy side, but the petal form is heavily influenced by the thinner and larger flaccida blooms.  The cultivar is a triploid, as verified by Dr Khoshoo. It was awarded the RHS Award of Merit in 1909
Synonyms: C. 'King Humbert', C. 'King of Prussia', C. 'Le Roi', C. 'New Red', C. 'Red King', C. 'Roi Humbert'

Canna 'Red King Humbert'

A medium sized Italian Group cultivar; bronze foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, branching habit; triangular stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are cupped, self-coloured red, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning; seed is sterile, pollen is sterile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is average.

This is Canna 'Yellow King Humbert' that has reverted back to its original state, Canna 'Roi Humbert 1'. After the shake-up of two mutations it is not safe to refer to it as C. 'Roi Humbert 1', as the genetic make-up has been affected through two major mutations, hence the new name.

Probable synonyms: C. 'Out of Africa', C. 'Ty Ty Red'

Earliest evidence of Yellow King Humbert

Kent Kelly, a leading US Canna authority, has located documents published on Google Book Search that show the earliest evidence revealed to date about Canna 'Yellow King Humbert'. It is from "The Garden Magazine ", May 1918, and is an advert by the Vaughan Seed Co., Chicago, IL. USA.

We know that it was a sport of Canna 'Roi Humbert' aka 'King Humbert', confirmed by this advert and the laboratory tests conducted by Dr Khoshoo in India in the 1960's.

Canna 'Roi Humbert' growing at the Nates Parks Department in France, where it has been grown for about 100 years continuously.

Although the Vaughan Seed Co. advert described it as a sport it is much more than that. This is a chimeral mutation, which is the plant-life equivilant of Siamese twins. The DNA of both cultivars is present and at any time can mutate again into the other twin.

Sometimes the mutations are not complete, as can be seen by the photograph above where just one staminode turned red with tone combinations, and sometimes it is just variegation in the foliage, as in the photograph below.

At other times it mutates totally back and produces a chimera similar to the original C. 'Roi Humbert'. The number of such mutations is legion and they are recorded as sports. They possibly include:

• Black Knight
• General Eisenhower
• Out of Africa
• Paddy's Red
• Red Cleopatra
• Red King Humbert
• The Ambassadour
• Ty Ty Red
• Zulu Masquerade

Many of these sports have subtle differences and are worthy of being treated as separate cultivars.

Canna 'Zulu Masquerade', introduced by Mrs Marcelle Shepard.

Roi Humbert wins RHS Awards of Merit

On 4 May 1909, the Floral Committee of Royal Horticulture Society meeting at Wisley, England with Mr H.H. May in the Chair, and twenty-six committee members present, announced the winners of its Award of Merit.

The Award of Merit was awarded to Canna 'Roi Humbert' (votes unanimous), submitted for examination by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., K.C.V.O., V.M.H., and Messrs J. Veitch, Chelsea. It was described as being, "A dark-leaved, orchid-flowered variety, with a bold spike of orange-crimson flowers."

This cultivar has been grown in Nantes, France, Parks Department since first introduced, and visitors there cannot fail to be impressed. It is a tall variety, but at Nantes it is grown on a raised bank, so that it has a commanding position over all the surrounding Canna cultivars. Even near the end of a long, hot summer its distinctive foliage is eye-catching. It was bred by Carl Sprenger who declared, "This plant will amaze the horticultural world."

It is now safely in the hands of Canna enthusiasts and should be generally available in a few years time.

Carl Sprenger in Wikipedia

Canna 'Roi Humbert' revealed

"The Garden", September 9, 1905, page 154

The Editor's table.

Mr Millar writes from Vomero, Naples:

"I am sending you a flower of the famous Canna King Humbert. I am astonished that I have never read anything about this Canna. It is the most perfect of all in foliage, which is dark red, and the flower is a fine vermilion colour. I have counted on a single plant more than 300 flowers. It was raised by Mr Sprenger, and the whole stock was given to Messrs. Vilmorin-Andrieux and Co., Paris. Have any of your readers tried this variety?"

Comments:

This article is the earliest reference to this great Italian Group cultivar, and adds to our knowledge of that group. The photograph above was taken at a park in Nantes, France, where it has been grown for 100 years.

Thanks to Keith Hayward, of Hart Canna, for sharing this great historical article. Herr Carl Sprenger, who introduced this great cultivar, stated that "It will surprise the horticultural world". Although considered by many at that time to be the greatest Canna of all, the early years of Canna 'Roi Humbert' are vague. It raises questions, like:

• Why wasn't it entered in the 1906/07 Canna Trials at RHS Wisley?

• Why did it take until 1909 to get the RHS Award of Merit?

The article also answers my question as to whether the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, which destroyed much of the Damman nurseries, was the cause of the volatile nature of this cultivar, having been the parent of the chimeric mutation C. 'Yellow King Humbert' . This article was published in 1905, the year before the volcanic eruption, and it states that all the stock had been already been given to Messrs. Vilmorin-Andrieux and Co., Paris, France.

Additional information:

Umberto I, King of Italy or Humbert I of Italy (Umberto Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoy), (14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. Canna 'Roi Humbert', aka 'King Humbert', was named for him by Herr Carl Sprenger, a principal of Messrs Damman, Naples, Italy.

Canna 'Yellow King Humbert' is also known as:

• Canna 'Anthony and Cleopatra' - name confined to Europe.
• Canna 'Cleopatra' - the name first appeared in US catalogs in the 1960s, not to be confused with C. 'Cleopatré' which is a Crozy Group cultivar from the 1890s.
  
• Canna 'Fusion' - name confined to eBay in USA.
  
• Canna 'Goldkrone' - confined to Europe.
  
• Canna 'Harlequin' - name appears to be confined to the USA.
  
• Canna 'Queen Helena' - name appears to be confined to the USA.
  
• Canna 'Queen of Italy' - name confined to India.
  
• Canna 'Spanish Emblem' - - name appears to be confined to the USA.
  
• Canna 'Striped Queen' - name confined to India.
  
• Canna 'Yellow Humbert' - first appeared in the 1990s, presumably as a shorthand for the correct name.

King Humbert had a fan

THE GARDEN MAGAZINE - May 1917 page 234

Is King Humbert the Best Canna?

I have tested fully one hundred varieties of Canna and have visited the Canna fields of two of the largest producers of these plants for sale critically examining the several hundred varieties while in flower with the result that I picked out King Humbert as the most magnificent dark-foilaged, red-flowered variety, of the whole lot.

I planted a clump of it on each side of the steps leading to my front door. As the house is built of light cream-colored brick the contrast of big bronzy leaves and brilliant, red-flowers (most of them more than four inches across) the plants were very striking. They gave a strong emphasis to the front of the house visible the moment one turned the street corner a block away. Probably the size of the specimens was increased over the normal because I made the soil very rich with poultry manure and rather friable with sand and leafmold.

John Alexander, Illinois.

Note: Canna 'King Humbert' is an English synonym of C. 'Roi Humbert'.