''Canna'' 'R. Wallace' is a medium sized, Crozy Group canna cultivar; green foliage, oblong shaped, white margin, spreading habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, pale yellow with red spots, staminodes are large, edges regular, stamen is rose-red with small yellow flecks; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink. Introduced by the venerable firm of

Wilhelm Pfitzer Wilhelm Pfitzer (21 January 1821 - 31 July 1905) was a German horticulturist. Wilhelm II Pfitzer in 1844, founded a nursery on a property at Militärstraße, Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where his father, Wilhelm I Pfitzer, owned a pro ...

, Fellbach, Germany in 1907, and named for Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet. In the same year it was awarded the RHS

Award of Merit The Award of Merit, or AM, is a mark of quality awarded to plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The award was instituted in 1888, and given on the recommendation of Plant Committees to plants deemed "of great merit for exhibitio ...

(AM), entered as a Crozy Group cultivar and the RHS described it and classified it as such. There can be no doubt that this Pfitzer bred cultivar is a Crozy Group cultivar. From the mid-1970s onwards, many nurserymen have confused this fine heritage cultivar with the Italian Group cultivar

Canna 'Austria' ''Canna'' 'Austria' is a medium sized Italian Group ''Canna'' cultivar with green foliage, oblong shaped, upright habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are cupped, self-coloured yellow, throat orange-red spots on yellow, staminodes are large ...

. Prior to this the US nursery catalogues show that the correct plant was being sold under this name. The only similarity with C. 'Austria' is the basic colours of the foliage and flowers. The shapes and style are very different. Research indicates that in the Spring Hill Nurseries, USA catalogue of 1972 there is an illustration which shows a floppy Italian Group, not a Crozy Group, type and they may be the original source of confusion.

Synonyms

* ''Canna'' 'Canary Bird' - confined to the USA. * ''Canna'' 'R. Wallis' - Tropical Planting and Gardening, H.F. MacMillan, 5th Edition, 1954 * ''Canna'' 'Richard Wallace' - The earliest reference to this synonym was the Burgess Seed and Plant Co, USA, Catalogue of 1939.

References

* RHS Award of Merit (Cannell, Pfitzer 1907) * RHS Journal of 1907-8 * RHS Journal of 1908-9 * Burgess Seed and Plant Co, Catalogue 1939 * Burgess Seed and Plant Co, Catalogue 1941 * Allen's Nurseries, Ohio, USA. Catalog 1944 * Breck's Catalogue, 1945 * Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1949 * Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1953 * Tropical Planting and Gardening, H.F. MacMillan, 5th Edition, 1954 * Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1955 * Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1961 * Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1964 * Henry Field's Catalogue, 1969 * Spring Hill Nurseries, Tipp City, Ohio, USA. Catalogue 1971 * Spring Hill Nurseries, Tipp City, Ohio, USA. Catalogue 1972

Synonyms

References

See also