Canna 'Teme'

A small aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; glaucous green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured ivory, staminodes are narrow, edges regular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, self-pollinating but not true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is slow.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2005. An F1 hybrid cross of Canna indica x Canna glauca

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Species Canna glauca var. glauca L.

A medium sized aquatic species, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; glaucous green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are open, self-coloured pale yellow, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals green, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Carl Linnaeus, abbreviated to L.

Synonyms: C. angustifolia L., C. elegans Raf., C. glauca, C. hassleriana Kraenzl., C. liturata Link ex A.Dietr., C. 'Louisiana canna', C. Mexican canna, C. mexicanna A.Dietr., C. nepalensis D.Dietr., C. pedicellata C.Presl., C. pruinosa Hoffmanns., Verz. Pfl.-Kult., C. schlectendaliana Bouché, C. siamensis Kraenzl., C. stolonifera D.Dietr., C. stricta Bouché

Introducing Canna 'Teme'

A small aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; glaucous green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured ivory, staminodes are narrow, edges regular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, self-pollinating but not true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is slow.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2005. An F1 hybrid cross of Canna indica x Canna glauca

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Growing more species specimens

Well, at long last we have finished transplanting the collection outdoors, and the watering system is installed. However, still no time to relax as we are erecting another polytunnel, which will ensure that all our Cannas can be grown indoors, and in the ground over the winter.

As Cannas never become dormant, unlike bulbs, the cultivars thrive best if kept growing slowly through the winter. It is amazing how much growth the healthier ones put on during late winter and early spring.

Altogether we lost about 20 cultivars, which were mostly planted around the edges of the largest of our polytunnels. The use of another tunnel will mean that we can leave a 60cm (2 foot) empty space around the inside next year.

We have not solved the problem of the dying species. The only species specimens to survive the winter were the indica, patens, discolor, and glauca specimens. Experience has shown that the rest are too delicate to withstand any frost at all, and we will have to look at other ways of over-wintering them.

It may be that we stop trying to over-winter them and just rely on growing them as annuals from seed. A correspondant, living in the Dominican Republic and enjoying tropical weather, confided that he only grows his species plants for two years, and then he replaces them with new seed-grown specimens. There they grow 52 weeks of the year quite naturally. As species grow true-to-type, there is no problem with growing them from seed.

However, one of our Canna wild species is totally sterile. Canna discolor is sterile for both seed and pollen, and as we have to rely on the rhizomes thriving, we intend to grow several specimens in the future, and over-winter them in different places, to try and guarantee their survival. It took many years of trying to acquire the genuine C. discolor, and we don't want to loose it. In addition, next winter we will be making it available to enthusiasts, so providing some insurance for the future.

White Canna glauca in Louisiana

There is a popular myth that deep in the waterways of southern Louisiana, USA can be found white Canna growing wild, and protected by State Laws. The photograph to the left shows the normal yellow C. glauca. William Zierath of Petersburg, Illinois, USA, one of our leading Canna species specialists, has investigated this claim and reported his findings. Mr Zierath stated that:

• He had written to the gentleman who's web site had resurecteded the myth, addressing the issues below. He has not received any response. It appears that the web site may have been recently modified to remove references to a white-flowered Canna glauca. Click here to visit the web site.
  


• The web page about yellow cannas included a two-sentence reference to white-flowered Canna glauca in southern Louisiana. The first sentence "There are several acres of a white flowered species (C. glauca) near the Intercoastal canal and H-82 in Louisiana" is obviously derived from a one-sentence reference to the cannas in a 1972 book by Clair Brown entitled Wildflowers of Louisiana and Adjoining States. The sentence structure is the same and they agree to the point of referring to the Intercoastal Waterway as the Intercoastal canal.


• Those who have travelled extensively on the substandard highways and scenic byways of coastal Louisiana probably know that there are two channels of the Intercoastal Waterway that pass under Highway 82. The new channel passes under a high bridge near Forked Island. The old channel passes under a much lower bridge about 8 miles to the south. It is not clear from the single sentence which channel the cannas were alleged to have grown near.


• In October 1992, Mr Zierath canoed both ways from Highway 82 along both channels for about 2 miles, looking for these plants. He did not find them.


• Back in the 1980s, Mr Zierath knew a botanist who was working in Louisiana. He was unable to find any further information about white-flowered Canna glauca in Louisiana.


• With the exceptions of the above-mentioned book and the web site, Mr Zierath has never been able to find any indication that anyone was aware of the existence of white-flowered Canna glauca plants in Louisiana, or anywhere else.


• The original web page that aroused this investigation and another page at the same site both used to refer to penalties for poaching the white-flowered Canna glauca plants. In spite of being able to find information about the State of Louisiana's rare plant program, Mr Zierath was unable to find any information to suggest that the state considers this plant rare, in any way protects this plant or is in any way even aware of the existence of this plant.

Mr Zeireth stated that if anyone can come with further information about this subject, then he will be pleased to put additional time and effort into looking for this plant if he can get reliable information about it. If you want to contact me, then I will put you in touch with Mr Zierath.

The real origins of Canna

The question has often been asked, "How can we be so sure that Cannas originated in South America?" We do know that the first Cannas introduced to Europe were C. indica L., and although they all came to Europe from the East Indies, they originated from the American continent. Charles de l'Ecluse, who first described and sketched C. indica in his Histoire des plantes rare observées en Espagne (history of rare plants observed in Spain), published in 1576, indicates this origin, and states that it was given the name of indica, not because the plant is from India, in Asia, but because this species was originally transported from America: "Quia ex America primum delata sit"; and at that time, one described the tropical areas of that part of the globe as the Western Indies; English speakers still call them the West Indies.

Much later, in 1658, Pison made reference, in his Histoire naturelle du Brésil (natural history of Brasil), to another species which he documented under the vulgar name of 'Albara' and 'Pacivira', and which resided, he said, in the shaded and damp places, between the tropics; this species is Canna angustifolia L., (later reclassified as C. glauca L. by taxonomists).

Without exception, all Canna species that have been introduced into Europe can be traced back to the American continent, and it can be asserted with confidence that Canna is solely an American genus. If Asia and Africa provided some of the early introductions, they were only varieties resulting from C. indica and C. glauca cultivars that have grown for a long time in India and Africa, but not from species growing in a spontaneous state.

The penultimate argument to the assertion that Canna is a South American genus is the fact that it is certain, as it is pointed out by Lamarck, in his Botanical Encyclelopédie, that "Cannas were unknown to the ancients, and that it is only after the discovery of the New World, that they made their appearance in Europe; whereas if the soils of India or Africa had produced some of them, they would not have waited until the 1860’s, to make an entry into the European gardens."

The final argument is that Canna seeds have never been discovered by archeologists in the Old World, and the hard shells of Canna would have ensured that some would have survived.