The Flower Parts

Once again, I have been asked to explain the various parts that constitute a Canna flower, and the first thing to do is to explain that the petals aren't really petals, they are actually infertile stamens that have been adopted to the role. There are two types of these 'petals', namely the staminodes and the labellum, which is sometimes called the lip and which normally acts as the landing platform when an insect ascends onto the flower.

Anther
The part of a stamen that produces pollen. In the case of Canna, the pollen is released through longitudinal slits in the anther.

Labellum
A lip. A modified stamen that acts as the lower lip. When visiting the flower, this is where insects will normally alight.

Ovary
The enlarged, rounded, ovule-producing base of the female portion (the pistil) of a flower that eventually develops into a fruit after its ovules have been fertilized.

Ovule

An outgrowth of the ovary, which upon fertilization, becomes the seed.

Pistil
The female part of a canna flower. A complete pistil consists of three parts: stigma, ovary, and style.

Pollen
The dust-like particles on the anthers of a flower are pollen grains, these contain the male gametes. They must unite with the female gametes before fertile seeds can be produced.

Pollination
The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same or a different flower to ensure fertilization of the ovules to produce seeds.
Sepal
Part of a flower, usually green, that surrounds and protects the flower in bud. The sepals are derived from modified leaves, and are collectively known as the calyx.

Stamen
The male floral organ, bearing the anther, which produces pollen.

Staminode
A sterile stamen.

Stigma
The part of the pistil of a flower, normally on the tip of the style or ovary, which receives pollen. Normally sticky so that pollen stays attached and grows pollen tubes that descend to the ovary to fertilize the eggs.

The flower parts

Understanding the parts that make up a Canna flower.

Natural pollination of Cannas

Canna pollination is basically trivial in practice. Hold a flower stem steady and smear some pollen onto the stigma of the style. Roughly six weeks later, there's a pod of ripe seeds if all has gone well. But there are some good reasons to know more and do more, because sometimes our efforts fail. Sometimes we want to do more than just a self-pollination, and make crosses between different cultivars, and sometimes even cross with species.

Pollination means transferring pollen from the anther onto the stigma of the flower. In the case of canna the hard part has already been done, and the pollen has been squeezed out of the anther and is waiting for us on the style. If we do not perform a hand pollination, then an obliging pollinator will almost certainly do it instead.

Pollen contains the male reproductive cells of a plant. Canna pollen, is heavy and sticky, and has a high protein content. It cannot be blown in the wind, so it must be gathered and distributed by insects or other active pollinators. You can laugh if anyone claims that canna gives them hay fever, as the only way you could get canna pollen in your nasal passages is to stick a flower up your nose. The plants trade some food to the bees in exchange for the transfer of pollen, called pollination.

The easy way
Most of the large canna hybridizers let the honey bees do their ad-hoc pollinating for them, although they do tend to isolate and plant varieties of interest together, this is why this blog pays a lot of attention to the honey-bee. The benefits of this type of planting are many:

• lots of seed.


• no worry about compatibility.


• no expensive hands-on care.

The downside is that only one parent is known for certain, and in our experience we have also found a much lower proportion of 'special' flowers. With hand pollination many more of your resultant offspring can be uniquely 'special'. The small, home garden hybridiser just doesn't have room for a lot of poor seedlings. On the other hand he or she can provide the daily attention that will yield specific crosses for specific goals and a high proportion of special blooms.

Further information on hand-pollination will follow.

The flower parts

I have been asked to explain the various parts that constitute a Canna flower, and the first thing to do is to explain that the petals aren't really petals, they are actually infertile stamens that have been adopted to the role. There are two types of these 'petals', namely the staminodes and the labellum, which is sometimes called the lip and which normally acts as the landing platform when an insect ascends onto the flower.

Anther
The part of a stamen that produces pollen. In the case of Canna, the pollen is released through longitudinal slits in the anther.

Labellum
A lip. A modified stamen that acts as the lower lip. When visiting the flower, this is where insects will normally alight.

Ovary
The enlarged, rounded, ovule-producing base of the female portion (the pistil) of a flower that eventually develops into a fruit after its ovules have been fertilized.

Ovule

An outgrowth of the ovary, which upon fertilization, becomes the seed.

Pistil
The female part of a canna flower. A complete pistil consists of three parts: stigma, ovary, and style.

Pollen
The dust-like particles on the anthers of a flower are pollen grains, these contain the male gametes. They must unite with the female gametes before fertile seeds can be produced.

Pollination
The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same or a different flower to ensure fertilization of the ovules to produce seeds.

Sepal
Part of a flower, usually green, that surrounds and protects the flower in bud. The sepals are derived from modified leaves, and are collectively known as the calyx.

Stamen
The male floral organ, bearing the anther, which produces pollen.

Staminode
A sterile stamen.

Stigma
The part of the pistil of a flower, normally on the tip of the style or ovary, which receives pollen. Normally sticky so that pollen stays attached and grows pollen tubes that descend to the ovary to fertilize the eggs.