List of Canna cultivars

This is a gallery of named canna cultivars, representative of the various Canna cultivar groups. Names of cultivars are regulated by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, are registered with an International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) and conform to the rules of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Commission for Nomenclature and Cultivar Registration. The ICRA for the Canna genus is the Royal General Bulbgrowers' Association of the Netherlands (KAVB).

Where several very similar cultivars exist, these are termed Cultivar Groups. For more details on the naming conventions see Cultivar Naming.

Foliage Group

Cultivars, F1 and F2 hybrids, normally with small species-like flowers, but grown principally for their foliage.Khoshoo, T.N. & Guha, I. - Origin and Evolution of Cultivated Cannas. Vikas Publishing House] Percy-Lancaster, S. (1927) An Indian Garden.] This group has occasionally been referred to as the Année Group, after the originator. However, the use of a non-English character in the name creates problems, both in pronunciation and keyboard entry, that it was felt that as they were grown primarily for foliage, then that was the better name choice.

Crozy Group

A cultivar group where the flower spikes are arranged close together on the stalk and have narrow to medium petals. There is always space between the staminodes when arranged formally, and the labellum (lip) is smaller than the staminodes, and is often twisted or curled. [http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2007/04/comparison-of-crozy-and-italian-groups.html Canna News: Comparison of Crozy and Italian Groups] ]

The pioneer of this group was Monsieur Crozy of Lyons, France, who started breeding Cannas as early as 1862, from stock originally developed by Monsieur Année the world's first Canna hybridizer. [Chaté, E. (1867). Le Canna, son histoire, sa culture. Libraire Centrale d'Agriculture et de Jardinage]

They are sometimes referred to as gladiolus flowering cannas, but describing flowers as similar to another genus is not to be encouraged.Cooke, Ian. (2001). The Gardener's Guide to Growing Canna, Timber Press. ISBN 978-0881925135 ] In the past, they were sometimes called the "x generalis" L.H. Bailey garden species, but "pretend" garden species have long been replaced by Cultivar Groups in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.

Italian Group

A cultivar group with large, fragile staminodes. Flowers are arranged somewhat loosely, with wide petals, so wide that there is no space between them, when arranged formally. The labellum (lip) is larger, or at least as large, as the staminodes, unlike the other groups where it is smaller and sometimes curled. The stamen is also much wider than that in the other cultivar groups.

Also, used to be called the orchid flowering cannas, or "x orchiodes" L.H. Bailey garden species, although such "pretend" species are now deprecated in favour of Cultivar Groups. In any event, it is difficult to see the similarity between this group and orchids.

Most of this group obtained its larger sized flowers from the introduction of Canna "flaccida" in the early 1890s by Dr Sprenger in Naples, Italy followed shortly afterwards by Luther Burbank in California, USA, with the same cross.

Australian Group

The result of a crossing of a Foliage Group seed parent with an Italian Group pollen parent (C. 'Red Stripe' x C. 'Bengal Tiger'), which resulted in the very large leaves of the Foliage Group allied with large flowers. [ [http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-canna-australian-group.html] Canna News: Australian Group] ]

Premier Group

This grouping contains cultivars that have a large, circular shape, without gaps between the staminodes. These are derived from triploids and crosses with the Italian Group cultivars. [ [http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2007/06/premier-canna-group.html Canna News: Premier Group] ]

Variegated Group

Cultivars with variegated foliage, regardless of what other Group they may belong to.

Conservatory Group

The growing conditions in a Conservatory are quite specialised and do not suit many cultivars, this group have been selected for thriving in this environment, required features being plant vigor, early flowering, foliar appearance, self-cleaning ability and good propagation qualities. The originator of this group was Robert Armstrong (geneticist) whilst he was working at Longwood Gardens in the USA in 1967. [http://66.155.36.102/Plants&Horticulture/PlantIntroduction/Armstrong/PlantIntroductionHistory.htm Plant Introductions by Robert Armstrong] ]

Aquatic Group

Cultivars that thrive as marginal water plants. Characteristically, they will have lance-shaped foliage and long, thin rhizomes.

Miniature Group

Cultivars growing under 0.5m (19") in height, the flowers should be in scale to the rest of the plant.

Agriculture Group

Cultivars grown selectively for agricultural usage, normally for their very large rhizomes and a high starch yield. See Canna Agriculture Group for more details. [http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2007/04/canna-cultivar-groups.html Canna News: Canna cultivar groups] ] Tanaka, N. 2001. Taxonomic revision of the family Cannaceae in the New World and Asia. Makinoa ser. 2, 1:34–43.] [Fang, Yang; Wang PingHua, Xie ShiQing, Zhang WeiGuang, Fang DeHua (2004). "Technique of scarifying and fermenting process of Canna starch.". Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences 17 (2): 231-234.]

References

See also

* Canna
* List of Canna species
* List of Canna hybridists