Editing Canna (plant) (section)

==Uses==
[[Image:Canna YKH 1075.jpg|thumb|''Canna'' (Italian group) 'Yellow King Humbert']]
[[Image:hota-seed-canna.jpg|thumb|right|Detail of the seed pods and seeds: The seeds are used for jewelry and musical instruments.]]
* Some species and many cultivars are widely grown in the garden in temperate and subtropical regions. Sometimes, they are also grown as potted plants. A large number of ornamental cultivars have been developed. They can be used in herbaceous borders, tropical plantings, and as a patio or decking plant.
* Internationally, cannas are one of the most popular garden plants, and a large horticultural industry depends on the plant.
* The rhizomes of cannas are rich in [[starch]], and have many uses in [[agriculture]]. All of the plant material has commercial value, rhizomes for starch (consumption by humans and livestock), stems and foliage for animal [[fodder]], young shoots as a [[vegetable]], and young seeds as an addition to [[tortilla]]s.
* The seeds are used as [[beads]] in [[jewelry]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.alohaainajewelry.com/info/AboutTheJewelry/aboutJewl.html |title=Aloha 'Aina Jewelry |access-date=2008-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503104125/http://www.alohaainajewelry.com/info/AboutTheJewelry/aboutJewl.html |archive-date=2008-05-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The seeds are used as the mobile elements of the [[kayamb]], a [[musical instrument]] from [[Réunion]], as well as the [[hosho (instrument)|hosho]], a [[gourd]] [[rattle (percussion instrument)|rattle]] from [[Zimbabwe]], where the seeds are known as ''hota'' seeds.
* In more remote regions of India, cannas are [[fermentation (food)|ferment]]ed to produce [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ganeshvilla.com/plants/index.html |title=Ganesh Mani Pradhan & Son |access-date=2008-02-04 |archive-date=2008-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509130331/http://www.ganeshvilla.com/plants/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The plant yields a fibre from the stem, which is used as a jute substitute.<ref name=PlantFuture>[http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Canna+indica Plants for a Future]</ref>
* A fibre obtained from the leaves is used for making paper. The leaves are harvested in late summer after the plant has flowered, they are scraped to remove the outer skin, and are then soaked in water for two hours prior to cooking. The fibres are cooked for 24 hours with lye and then beaten in a blender. They make a light tan to brown [[paper]].<ref name=PlantFuture/>
* A purple [[dye]] is obtained from the seed.<ref name=PlantFuture/>
* [[Smoke]] from the burning leaves is said to be [[insecticide|insecticidal]].<ref name=PlantFuture/>
* Cannas are [[Phytoremediation|used to extract]] many undesirable [[Water pollution|pollutants]] in a [[wetland]] environment as they have a high tolerance to [[contaminants]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ayaz |first1=Selma Ç. |last2=Akça |first2=Lütfi |date=2001 |title=Treatment of wastewater by natural systems |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0160412000000994 |journal=Environment International|volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=189–195 |doi=10.1016/S0160-4120(00)00099-4|pmid=11341705 |bibcode=2001EnInt..26..189A }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/pubs/etpmcbrconwet.pdf |title=Constructed wetland for on-site septic treatment. |access-date=2008-02-11 |archive-date=2008-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227150434/http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/pubs/etpmcbrconwet.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In [[Thailand]], cannas are a traditional gift for [[Father's Day]].
* In [[Vietnam]], canna starch is used to make [[cellophane noodles]] known as ''miến dong''.
* Cannas attract hummingbirds, so can be part of a pollinator and wildlife habitat strategy.

=== Horticultural varieties (cultivars) ===
[[Image:Cannaceae Canna L. Golden Gate.JPG|thumb|right|''Canna'' 'Golden Gate']]
[[Image:Canna TheresaBlakey 1061.jpg|thumb|right|''Canna'' (Crozy group) 'Theresa Blakey']]

Cannas became very popular in Victorian times as garden plants, and were grown widely in France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.<ref name=Khoshoo/><ref name=Lancaster/> Some cultivars from this time, including a sterile hybrid, usually referred to as [[Canna × ehemannii|''Canna'' × ''ehemannii'']], are still commercially available.<ref name="Delebo">{{Cite web |title=Canna Ehemannii |url=http://clainescanna.co.uk/canna-ehemannii-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820191541/http://clainescanna.co.uk/canna-ehemannii-2/ |archive-date=2013-08-20 |access-date=25 July 2014}}</ref> ''C.''&nbsp;×&nbsp;''ehemannii'' is tall and green-leafed with terminal drooping panicles of hot pink iris-like flowers, looking somewhat like a cross between a banana and a fuchsia.<ref name=Grant>{{cite book|last1=Grant|first1=Greg|title=Heirloom Gardening in the South|date=2011|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|location=College Station, Texas|page=187}}</ref>

As tender perennials in northern climates, they suffered severe setbacks when two world wars sent the young gardening staff off to war. <!-- fluff It took many years for the frugalities of war and its rationing subsequences to change to the more prosperous times of the late 20th century. --> The genus ''Canna'' has recently experienced a renewed interest and revival in popularity.<ref name=Cooke/> Once, hundreds of [[cultivar]]s existed, but many are now extinct. In 1910, Árpäd Mühle, from Hungary, published his ''Canna'' book, written in German. It contained descriptions of over 500 cultivars.

In recent years, many new cultivars have been created, but the genus suffers severely from having many synonyms for many popular ones. Most of the synonyms were created by old varieties resurfacing without viable names, with the increase in popularity from the 1960s onwards. Research has accumulated over 2,800 ''Canna'' cultivar names, but many of these are simply synonyms.<ref name=Synonyms>{{Cite web |url=http://www.clainescanna.co.uk/Index_Synonyms.htm |title=Canna Synonyms |access-date=2008-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701032356/http://www.clainescanna.co.uk/Index_Synonyms.htm |archive-date=2007-07-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> See [[List of Canna hybridists|List of ''Canna'' hybridists]] for details of the people and firms that created the current ''Canna'' legacy.

In the early 20th century, Professor [[Liberty Hyde Bailey]] defined, in detail, two "garden species" (''C.'' × ''generalis''<ref>Bailey, L.H. – Canna x generalis. Hortus, 118 (1930); cf. Standley & Steyerm. in Fieldiana, Bot., xxiv. III.204 (1952)</ref> and ''C.'' × ''orchiodes''<ref>Bailey, L.H. – Canna x orchiodes. Gentes Herb. (Ithaca), 1 (3): 120 (1923)</ref>) to categorise the [[floriferous]] cannas being grown at that time, namely the Crozy hybrids and the orchid-like hybrids introduced by [[Carl Ludwig Sprenger]] in Italy and [[Luther Burbank]] in the U.S., at about the same time (1894).<ref name=Khoshoo/><ref>[http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2007/04/comparison-of-crozy-and-italian-groups.html Comparison of Crozy & Italian Group cultivars]</ref> The definition was based on the [[genotype]], rather than the [[phenotype]], of the two cultivar groups.<ref name=Lancaster>[[Sydney Percy-Lancaster|Percy-Lancaster, S.]], An Indian Garden. 1927</ref> Inevitably over time, those two floriferous groups were interbred, the distinctions became blurred and overlapped, and the Bailey species names became redundant.<ref name="Cooke">{{Cite book |last=Cooke |first=Ian |year=2001 |title=The Gardener's Guide to Growing Canna |publisher=[[Timber Press]] |isbn=978-0-88192-513-5}}</ref> Pseudo-species names are now [[deprecated]] by the [[International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants]] which, instead, provides [[Cultivar Group]]s for categorising cultivars (see groups at [[List of Canna cultivars|List of ''Canna'' cultivars]]).<ref name="ICNCP">International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, C. D. Brickell (Commission chairman), B. R. Baum, W. L. A. Hetterscheid, A. C. Leslie, J. McNeill, P. Trehane, F. Vrugtman, J. H. Wiersema (eds.). {{ISBN|90-6605-527-8}}</ref>

===AGM cultivars===
These canna cultivars have gained the [[Royal Horticultural Society]]'s [[Award of Garden Merit]]:
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*'Alaska'<ref name="apps.rhs.org.uk">{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Alaska' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/195926/Canna-Alaska/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (cream flushed yellow)
*'Annaeei'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Annaeei' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/166538/Canna-Annaeei/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (large blue-green leaves)
*[[Canna × ehemannii|''C.'' × ''ehemannii'']]<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' × ''ehemanii'' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/98223/Canna-x-ehemanii/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (deep pink)
*'Erebus'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Erebus' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/76206/Canna-Erebus/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (coral pink)
*'General Eisenhower'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'General Eisenhower' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92724/Canna-General-Eisenhower/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bronze leaves, orange flowers)
*'Louis Cayeux'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Louis Cayeux' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92297/Canna-Louis-Cayeux/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (salmon pink)
*'Musifolia'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Musifolia' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/191041/Canna-Musifolia/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (large leaves flushed bronze)
*'Mystique'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Mystique' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/138774/Canna-Mystique/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bronze leaves)
*'Phasion'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Phasion' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/137372/Canna-Phasion-(v)/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bronze leaves, orange flowers)
*'Picasso'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Picasso' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/94337/Canna-Picasso/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (yellow spotted red flowers)
*'Russian Red'<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna indica'' 'Russian Red' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/192702/Canna-indica-Russian-Red/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bronze leaves)
*'Shenandoah'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Shenandoah' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/93407/Canna-Shenandoah/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (flesh pink)
*'Verdi'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Verdi' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/77677/Canna-Verdi/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bright orange)
*'Whithelm Pride'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Whithelm Pride' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/190387/Canna-Whithelm-Pride/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bright pink)
*'Wyoming'<ref>{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – ''Canna'' 'Wyoming' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/90931/Canna-Wyoming/Details |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> (bright orange)
{{div col end}}

===Agricultural varieties===
[[Image:Canna Edulis 2003072001 0014.jpg|thumb|left|''Canna'' (Agriculture Group) 'Edulis Dark']]
The [[Canna Agriculture Group]] contains all of the varieties of ''Canna'' grown in agriculture. "Canna achira" is a generic term used in South America to describe the cannas that have been selectively bred for agricultural purposes, normally derived from ''[[Canna discolor|C. discolor]]''. It is grown especially for its edible [[rootstock]] from which starch is obtained, but the leaves and young seeds are also edible, and achira was once a staple food crop in [[Peru]] and [[Ecuador]].<ref name=Khoshoo/> Trials in Ecuador using a wide range of varieties have shown that achira can yield on average 56 tons of rhizomes and 7.8 tons of extractable starch per hectare. However, the crop needs 9–12 months to mature to full productivity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hermann|first=Michael|title=Crop growth and starch productivity of edible canna|year=1995–1996|publisher=International Potato Center|pages=295–301|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mE35sBhT48C}}</ref>

Many more traditional kinds exist worldwide; they have all involved human selection, so are classified as agricultural cultivars. Traditionally, ''Canna edulis'' Ker Gawl. has been reputed to be the species grown for food in South America, but ''C. edulis'' probably is simply a synonym of ''C. discolor'', which is also grown for agricultural purposes throughout Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=4256780 |title=The utilization of edible ''Canna'' plants in southeastern Asia and southern China |author=Nobuyuki Tanaka |journal=Economic Botany |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=112–114 |year=2004 |doi=10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0112:noep]2.0.co;2 |s2cid=198152695 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jjbot.com/English/Vol.73E/73-3E.html |title=On the Genus Canna in Yaeyama Islands, the Ryukyus, Japan |access-date=2007-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928082450/http://www.jjbot.com/English/Vol.73E/73-3E.html |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ffcr.or.jp/zaidan/FFCRHOME.nsf/7bd44c20b0dc562649256502001b65e9/cb71f616e311cc9549257177000afed8/$FILE/211(4)4.pdf |title=Edible Canna and its Starch: An Under-Exploited Starch-Producing Plant Resource |access-date=2007-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227150439/http://www.ffcr.or.jp/zaidan/FFCRHOME.nsf/7bd44c20b0dc562649256502001b65e9/cb71f616e311cc9549257177000afed8/$FILE/211(4)4.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.econbot.org/_publications_/index.php?sm=03 |title=Progress in the Development of Economic Botany and Knowledge of Food Plants. |access-date=2007-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708224604/http://www.econbot.org/_publications_/index.php?sm=03 |archive-date=2007-07-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hermann|first=Michael|author2=NK Quynh|author3=D. Peters|title=Reappraisal of Edible Canna as a High-Value Starch Crop in Vietnam|journal=CIP Program Report 1997-98|year=1999|url=http://www.cipotato.org/publications/program_reports/97_98/50canna.pdf|access-date=27 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927143833/http://www.cipotato.org/publications/program_reports/97_98/50canna.pdf|archive-date=2011-09-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Propagation===
====Sexual propagation====
[[Image:Canna Seeds 01.JPG|thumb|Canna fruit (green) and ripe seed pods]]
[[File:Canna fruits.jpg|thumb|Canna fruits]]
Seeds are produced from [[Plant sexuality|sexual]] reproduction, involving the transfer of [[pollen]] from the [[stamen]] of the pollen parent onto the stigma of the seed parent.<ref name=HMaas/> In the case of ''Canna'', the same plant can usually play the roles of both pollen and seed parents, technically referred to as a [[hermaphrodite]]. However, the cultivars of the Italian group and [[Polyploidy|triploids]] are almost always seed sterile, and their pollen has a low fertility level. [[Mutations]] are almost always totally sterile.<ref name=Khoshoo/>

''Canna'' seeds have a very hard [[seed coat]], which contributes to their [[seed#Seed dormancy|dormancy]]. Germination is facilitated by [[seed#Inducing germination|scarification]] of the seed coat, which can be accomplished by several techniques.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/how-propagate-canna-seed |title=Organic Gardening: How to Propagate Canna by Seed. |access-date=2012-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213072933/http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/how-propagate-canna-seed |archive-date=2012-02-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

;Pollination
The species are capable of [[self-pollination]], but most cultivars require an outside [[pollinator]]. All cannas produce [[nectar]], so attract nectar-consuming [[insects]], [[bat]]s, and [[hummingbird]]s, that act as the transfer agent, spreading pollen between stamens and stigmas on the same or different flowers.<ref name=Khoshoo/>

;Genetic changes
Since [[genetic recombination]] has occurred, a cultivar grown from seed will have different characteristics from its parent(s), thus should never be given a parent's name. The wild species have evolved in the absence of other ''Canna'' genes and are usually true to type when the parents are of the same species, but a degree of variance still occurs. The species ''C. indica'' is an aggregate species, having many different and extreme forms ranging from the giant to miniature, from large foliage to small foliage, both green and dark foliage, and many differently coloured blooms of red, orange, pink, or yellow, and combinations of those colours.<ref name=Khoshoo/>

====Asexual propagation====
[[Image:Culture in vitro.JPG|thumb|right|200px|''In vitro'' culture of plants in a controlled, sterile environment]]
;Division of plant parts
Outside of a laboratory, the only effective asexual propagation method is rhizome division. This uses material from a single parent, and as no exchange of genetic material occurs, it almost always produces plants that are identical to the parent. After a summer's growth, the horticultural cultivars can be separated into typically four or five separate smaller rhizomes, each with a growing nodal point (growing eye). Without the growing point, which is composed of [[meristem]] material, the rhizome will not grow.<ref name=Khoshoo/>

;Micropropagation
[[Micropropagation]], also known as tissue culture, is the practice of rapidly multiplying stock plant material to produce a large number of progeny plants. Micropropagation uses ''[[in vitro]]'' division of small pieces in a sterile environment, where they first produce proliferations of tissue, which are then separated into small pieces that are treated differently so that they produce roots and new stem tissue. The steps in the process are regulated by different ratios of plant growth regulators. Many commercial organizations have produced cannas this way, and specifically the "Island Series" of cannas was introduced by means of mass-produced plants using this technique. However, cannas have a reputation for being difficult micropropagation candidates.<ref name=Cooke/>

Micropropagation techniques can be employed to disinfest plants of a virus. In the growing tip of a plant, cell division is so rapid that the younger cells may not have had time to be infected with the virus. The rapidly growing region of meristem cells producing the shoot tip is cut off and placed ''in vitro'', with a very high probability of being uncontaminated by virus.
<!-- all have already been listed
==See also==
* [[List of Canna species|List of ''Canna'' species]]
* [[List of Canna cultivars|List of ''Canna'' cultivars]]
* [[List of Canna hybridists|List of ''Canna'' hybridists]]
* [[Canna Agriculture Group]]
* [[Canna virus]]
* [[Canna rust]]
* [[Japanese beetle]]
 -->