24-CANNA INDICA L.
Local name: Kardal etc.
Family: Cannaceae
Location: Infront of Botany Department Garde, beside ‘Gate of Knowledge’ etc.
Characters: Canna indica is a perennial growing to between 0.5 and 2.5 metres (1.5 and 8 feet), depending on the variety. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite. It forms branched rhizomes 60 centimetres (24 inches) long that are divided into bulbous segments and covered in two lines by pale green or purple flaky leaves. The very large grains of starch stored there can supposedly be seen with the naked eye. The plants form an upright, unbranched stem or the overlapping leaf sheaths form a pseudo trunk. The pollination mechanism is very specialised and the pollination is done by insects. The insects pick up the pollen from the flattened style. In their homeland, the bloom by humming pollinated. There they bloom in the months of August to October. The fruits are ellipsoid capsules to globose, warty, 1.5 to 3 cm long, chestnut coloured, with a large amount of black and very hard seeds.
General use: Canna indica sps. can be used for the treatment of industrial waste waters through constructed wetlands. It is effective for the removal of high organic load, colour and chlorinated organic compounds from paper mill wastewater. The seeds are widely used for jewellery. The seeds are also used as the mobile elements of the kayamb, a musical instrument from Réunion, as well as the hosho, a gourd rattle from Zimbabwe, where the seeds are known as "hota" seeds. The large rhizomes are edible. They can be eaten raw, but are usually baked. Cooked, the rhizomes become translucent, mucilaginous, and sweet.