Canna indica

Canna indica, commonly known as Indian shot, African arrowroot, edible canna, purple arrowroot, Sierra Leone arrowroot, is a plant species in the family Cannaceae. It is native to the Americas and naturalized elsewhere. The edible rhizomes are a source of starch.

Description

A broad leafed plant with purple leaf sheaths. It is about 1.5 to 2.5 m high. It grows as a perennial. The stems are in clusters. The leaves are large and smooth. They are dark green but can be reddish in some varieties. The leaf base forms a sheath around the stem. The flowers are red and produced at the top of the plant. The petals are small and red and 4-10 mm wide. The fruit is a 3 celled capsule with black seeds. Underground it has a much branched root or rhizome with fattened sections covered with leaf scars. These are often light red on the outside and yellowish white inside. A clump of 15-20 suckers often develops. These starchy tubers are from 6 cm across to 15 cm long. The shape varies. The seeds are black and hard. They are 5-7 mm across.

Edible Uses

The root is eaten cooked and is the source of 'canna starch', used as an arrowroot. It is prepared by rasping the root to a pulp, then washing and straining to remove the fibres. Very young tubers are eaten cooked — they are sweet but fibrous. Roots contain around 25% starch. There is one report of an edible fruit, but this is considered dubious as the fruit is a dry capsule containing very hard seeds.

Traditional Uses

The rhizomes are a source of starch. The rhizomes are eaten after cooking. They are boiled or baked. The leaves and rhizomes are used for animals. Starch can be extracted from the roots. This is achieved by rasping the tubers, then washing the starch out and straining out the fibres. The large starch grains are very digestible. The starch is used to make transparent noodles. The young shoots can be eaten as a green vegetable. Immature seeds are cooked.

Medicinal Uses

The plant is used in the treatment of women's complaints. A decoction of the root with fermented rice is used to treat gonorrhoea and amenorrhoea. The plant is also considered demulcent, diaphoretic, and diuretic.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It is grown and used in some of the coastal areas of the tropics and subtropics. It will grow from sea level up to 1600 m. In the Andes it grows between 1,000 and 2,500 m altitude. It needs a heavy fertile soil. It cannot stand strong winds. It does best with an evenly distributed rainfall. It cannot stand waterlogging. It grows in wetlands. It can stand some shade. It needs to be in a frost free location. It has some salt tolerance. It does best where both days and nights are warm. It grows in hardiness zones 8-12. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

Where It Grows

Africa, American Samoa, Andes, Antilles, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central America, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo DR, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Africa, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Europe, Fiji, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kiribati, Kurdistan, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Marquesas, Mexico*, Middle East, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North America, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rotuma, Sahel, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Sri Lanka, St Helena, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad, Turkey, Türkiye, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, UAE, Uruguay, USA, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies*,

Cultivation

They can be grown from seed. It is more easy to grow them by dividing the plant. The crowns should not be planted too deeply. The end section of the rhizome is planted. Well developed tubers with one or two undamaged buds should be used. A spacing of 1 m x 1 m is suitable. Tubers are planted about 15 cm deep and need to be kept weed free during early growth. About 2.5 tons of tubers are required to plant a hectare. The tubers are dug from between 6 and 19 months. The tubers can be stored if cool and dry. For starch manufacture they need to be processed immediately.

Propagation

Pre-soak seeds for 24 hours in warm water, then sow in February or March in a warm greenhouse at 20°C, planting 2–5cm deep in individual pots. Scarifying the seed can speed germination, particularly if the seed has not swollen after soaking. Germination usually occurs in 3–9 weeks. Grow plants on in a greenhouse for at least their first winter, then plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts. The root clump can be divided as the plant comes into growth in spring; each portion must have at least one growing point. Pot up divisions and grow on in the greenhouse until well established before planting out in summer. Root cuttings are also an option.

Other Uses

The plant yields a fibre — possibly from the stem — that serves as a jute substitute. A fibre obtained from the leaves is used to make paper: leaves are harvested in late summer after flowering, scraped to remove the outer skin, soaked in water for 2 hours, cooked for 24 hours with lye, and then beaten in a blender to produce a light tan-brown paper. A purple dye is obtained from the seed. Smoke from the burning leaves is said to be insecticidal.

Production

Harvesting occurs after about 8 months. Parts of the underground root are harvested as needed. High yields of tops and rhizomes are possible. Up to 38 tons of rhizomes and 50 tons of tops have been achieved.

Other Information

It is a commercially cultivated vegetable. It is a starchy root crop of some importance in some coastal areas mainly on the Papuan side of Papua New Guinea.

Notes

There are about 10 Canna species. They grow in the tropics and subtropics. They originally came from tropical America.

Nutrition

Synonyms

Also Known As

Achera, Achira, Acira, Adalut, African arrowroot, Ambaradeda, Araruta bastarda, Ar-do, Atsera, Australian arrowroot, Balisier, Balisier, Berg, Biru manso, Biru manso, Bungah tasbih, Buthsarana, Caite, Capacho, Chisgua, Cucurds, Dingiza, Dinioka, Dong rieng, Essbare canna, Fanamanu, Ganyong, Gasau, Gontha, Gruya, Imbirg, Kalvazhai, Kana, Kattaye, Kuentas-kuentasan, Mei ren jiao, Meru, Moz fahal, Pann-u, Pipirigallo, Pisang sebiak, Platanillo, Purple arrowroot, Saka siri canna, Sakhu chin, Sembu, Sugu, Te riti, Tous-les-mois, Zembu

References (104)

• Queensland arrowroot references (Canna indica syn. C. edulis)
• ALCORN, (As Canna lutea)
• Altschul, S.V.R., 1973, Drugs and Foods from Little-known Plants. Notes in Harvard University Herbaria. Harvard Univ. Press. Massachusetts. no. 461
• Ambasta S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 101 (Also as Canna edulis)
• Arinathan, V., et al, 2007, Wild edibles used by Palliyars of the western Ghats, Tamil Nadu. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. 6(1) pp 163-168

More from Cannaceae

Canna discolor

Canna edulis

Achira, Indian shot

Canna flaccida

Golden canna

Canna glauca

Mexican canna

Canna iridiflora

Peruvian canna

Canna tuerckheimii

Large-leaved canna lily