Cannas

The genus Canna is the only one representing the Cannaceae family. The name Canna comes from the celtic word "cann" meaning cane, referring to the morphology of the stems. All the species (from 50 to 80 depending on the authors) are from tropical America. The first description in Europe was made by Charles De Lecluse in 1576, it was Canna indica, probably brought back by Spanish missionaries. The "horticultural story" of the Canna stayed anecdotal until the early 19^th century. The species that people knew at this time were Canna indica, Canna flaccida, C. latifolia, C. latifolia, C. coccinea, C. lutea and C. glauca.

In 1848, Mr Année had come back from America and got fond of the genus Canna, he obtained a new seed, a new Canna. This one produced bigger and more numerous flowers than the botanical ones. The plant received the name of its creator and got called Canna annaei. The horticultural story of the Canna had just begun.

The first crossbreeds were made between botanical species or botanical species and first hybrids. It was (the) easy to know which plants were their parents. But nowadays, the new cultivars are the result of many crossbreeds so it is hardly possible to know their exact ascendance. The nomenclature calls them "general hybrids" what is written : Canna x generalis followed by the name of the cultivar.

Example : Canna x generalis cv Talisman

The region of Lyon was the living place of several creators of Canna. We can quote amongst others :

• Jean LIABAUD in the 1850’s
• Jean SISLEY in the 1860’s
• Mr NARDY in the 1870’s
• Mr GOUJON and Mr Jules CHRETIEN in the 1860’s at the Tete d’Or park

Amongst the great Lyonese Canna creators, Mr Crozy father and then, son who created hybrids since 1862. They managed to create first some varieties smaller than what was known in he collections in these times, but above all a Canna variety called "floriferous Canna" or "big flowered Lyonese Canna". These Canna made them famous in all the expositions of the late 19^th century.

Mr Crozy (the father) even received the nickname "Canna daddy" ("papa canna" in french) in 1890 for all his creations. One of his most beautiful creations : the cultivar Madame Crozy that has a beautiful vermilion colour with golden borders. It has been used by the Italian horticulturist Mr Spenger (from the Dammann establishments at San Giovani Teduccio near Naples) to create the "Canna with orchid flowers" or "Italian Canna". As examples of varieties having the Canna hybrid Madame Crozy as a parent, we can quote : Austria (1893), Italia (1893), Alemania (1894), Britannia (1895), Heinrich Seidel(1895).

Later, in the early 20^th century, the Rozain-Boucharlat establishments were prolific creators. Their exploitation at Cuires-les-Lyon was the origin of  the births of many cultivars. Their list of the year 1910 proposed 110 varieties many of them being their creations. One of their principal success was the obtaining of a pure pink colour which didn’t exist yet (only pale pink and salmon pink existed).

The obtaining of these cultivars Francis Berthie and Prince de Galles were giving good hopes to have a purer colour. In 1922, the cultivar Prince Charmant with its bright carmine pink colour brought the wanted tone in the collections.

The improvements didn’t stop there and in 1930, the Rozain-Boucharlat’s variety Centenaire appeared in their list. This variety which is small, floriferous, with big spikes and carmine, lilac shaded flowers is still present at many horticulturists’ and cities’ green spaces.

As a heir of this rich horticultural past of the Canna story, the Lyon Botanical Garden reconstitutes the history of this genus’ evolution. Thanks to long researches in the library, many contacts with amateurs and professional enthusiasts , we find a great number of ancient cultivars, botanical species, etc…

Our collection is based on the Lyon Botanical Garden’s rich found (already 164 taxons in 1925). Our goal is to present the taxons in the evolution logic : first, the botanical species, then the first hybrids (often used in beds for their leaves), then the floriferous Canna in the order of their evolutions (Lyonese, Italian, with variegated leaves, etc…)

Thanks to these researches, we check each plant, the name of its creator and the year of presentation is systematically searched concerning the hybrids, as far as we can get documents concerning them.