About Cannas
April 21st, 2009 Posted in Canna 'Tropicana'Canna (a.k.a. Canna lily, although not a true lily) is a genus of approximately twenty species of flowering plants. The closest living relations to cannas are the other plant families of the order Zingiberales, including gingers, bananas, heliconias, marantas, and strelitzias. The name Canna originates from the Celtic word for a cane or reed.
Canna is the only genus in the family Cannaceae. Such a family has almost universally been recognized by taxonomists. The APG II system of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998) also recognizes the family, and assigns it to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids, in the monocots.
Cannas are tropical plants, however, most cultivars have been developed in temperate climates and are easy to grow in most areas of the world. Their basic requirement is an average of about six hours of sunlight in the summer. The species has large, attractive foliage and horticulturists have turned it into a large-flowered, bright, and brash garden plant. In some parts of the world, it is an agricultural plant, being one of the world’s richest starch sources.
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One Response to “About Cannas”
By Sally on Nov 16, 2011
DO all tropicana cannas have orange flowers?