THE FLORA OF THE MALAY· PENINSULA

Canna.] CXXXIX. CANNACElE. :29t
ORDER C:XXXIX. CANNACElE.
Tall herbs; rhizome short, not aromatic. Stems leafy.
Leaves large thin, oblong or ovate acute petioled, sheathing at
base. Raceme lax terminal simple or branching. Flowers showy
red or yellow. Sepals 3, free, superior, oblong or lanceolate acute.
Corolla-tube cylindric, lobes 3, lanceolate. Stamens in a cylindric
tube with three unequal petaloid lobes. Anther I-celled, adnate
to the edge of one of the smaller lobes. Ovary inferior, 3-celled;
style ad nate to the stamen tube. Fruit globose or oblong muricate,
capsular. Seeds large globose, smooth, black, no aril. One genus,
Canna Linn. Species 20 to 30, all tropical American, one or two
now widely scattered over the Tropics. Many species and hybrids
cultivated in gardens.
1. CANNA, Linn.
(I) C. orientalis Rose. Pl. Scitam. t. 12.
Stems 3 to 4 ft. tall. Leaves ovate acuminate, 12 to 14 in.
long, 3'5 to 7 in. wide; petiole sheathing, 6 in. long. Raceme a
panicle of 2 or 3 racemes 9 to 12 in. long. Lower bracts linear
acute, 4 in. long, '5 in. wide or less. Floral bracts ovate truncate,
'5 in. long and as wide. Flowers 8 or more, sub-sessile. Sepals
lanceolate acute, '25 in. long, lengthening in fruit, pinkish or green.
Corolla-tube '25 to '3 in. long, lobes linear acute, red, I in. long,
'1 in. wide. Staminal lobes oblanceolate-spathulate, red, 1'5 in.
long, '25 in. wide. Lip linear-spathulate, I in. long, red with
yellow centre or with yellow spots. Capsule oblong, '75 to I in.
long, black muricate with short processes crowned by the enlarged
calyx. Seeds globose black. Bab. Common in waste ground and
old gardens, often reappearing when abandoned cultivations are
dug over, Singapore, Malacca, etc. Certainly not wild here, but
now widely distributed over the Old World, probably native of
India. Native name: Sebiak or Sebek, often called Pisang Sebiak.
Use: Leaves used for wrapping up parcels.
C. Warszewiczii Dietr. Z1t Otto et Dietr. Allg. Gart. Zeit. 290;
Bot. Mag. t. 4854. Established itself for some time in waste ground
in Singapore. Stem 3 ft. tall, with the leaves, ovaries, calyx and
bracts deep purple blood red, and pruinose. Leaves 1 ft. long,
6 in. wide. The flower is scarlet, the corolla-lobes broader than
in C. orientalis, and the upper one notched at the tip. Capsule
black and covered with warts. Native of Costa Rica and South
Brazil,
ORDER CXL. LOWIACElE.
Tufted stemless plant;. Leaves rather stiff oblong or elliptic,
petioled. Flowers solitary or on a short panicle from the rhizome.