Canna iridiflora Ruiz & Pav.

A medium sized wild species; green foliage, oblong shaped, branching habit; hanging panicles of flowers are bell-shaped, self-coloured rose, staminodes are medium size; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink.

Synonyms: C. ‘Iris’, C. ‘Iris canna’

Canna iridiflora Ruiz & Pav.

A medium sized wild species; green foliage, oblong shaped, branching habit; hanging panicles of flowers are bell-shaped, self-coloured rose, staminodes are medium size; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and also true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink.

Synonyms: C. ‘Iris’, C. ‘Iris canna’

Canna tuerckheimii Kraenzl.

A giant species; green foliage, oblong shaped, branching habit; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured crimson, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals purple, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules ellipsoid; rhizomes are thick, up to 7 cm in diameter, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Kraenzl. Native of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador at altitudes of 500-2,000m (1,600 – 6,500ft). Johnson’s Dictionary of 1856 reports that it first entered England in 1820 as Canna latifolia, meaning ‘broad-leaved’.

Professor Paul Maas and his wife Dr. Hiltje Maas, consider C. tuerckheimii is the correct name, but Dr. Nobuyuki Tanaka considers that the correct name is C. latifolia.

Synonyms: C. altensteinii Bouché, C. ‘Broadleaf’, C. ‘Broad-leaved canna’, C. coccinea var. sylvestris (Roscoe) Regel, C. curviflora Horan., C. gemella Nees & Mart., C. gigantea F. Delaroche, C. iridiflora Willd., C. latifolia Mill., C. macrophylla Hort. ex Horan., C. ‘Marabout’, C. neglecta Weinm., C. sylvestris Roscoe, C. violacea Bouché