Rhizomes far-creeping, 0.5--1.5 cm diam. Leaves: sheath and blade glaucous; blade narrowly ovate, 28--70 ´ 1.5--14 cm, base cuneate, apex very gradually narrowing to acute. Inflorescences racemes, simple or occasionally branched, bearing 2-flowered cincinni, more than 10 flowers per inflorescence; primary bracts 10--30 cm; secondary bracts 5--20 cm; floral bracts persistent, (broadly) ovate-triangular, 0.7--2.5 ´ 0.4--1 cm, apex entire or irregularly lobed, glaucous; bracteoles (broadly) ovate-triangular, 0.3--2 cm 4--8 mm, apex entire or irregularly lobed. Flowers pure yellow, 7.5--10 cm; pedicels short, to 0.5 cm; sepals narrowly elliptic-triangular, 1.2--2 ´ 0.3--0.5 cm; petals erect, 5--9 cm, tube 1--2 cm, lobes narrowly ovate, 4--7 ´ 0.7--1.1 cm; staminodes 4, narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, 7.5--10 cm, free part 0.5--2.3 cm wide, apex sometimes slightly notched; labellum strongly reflexed, linear, approximately equal to other staminodes. Capsules globose to ellipsoid, 2--5 ´ 2--4 cm. Seeds brown, ovoid, 7--10 ´ 6--8 mm. 2n = 18. Flowering summer; fruiting summer--fall (Jun--Sep). Margins of marshes, swamps, ponds, and wet ditches; 0--100 m; Fla., La., S.C., Tex.; West Indies; Central America; South America. Canna glauca is introduced in Florida and probably in South Carolina.
Other References Belling, J. 1931. Chromomeres of liliaceous plants. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 16: 153---170. Honing, J. A. 1928. Canna crosses II. Meded. Landbouwhoogeschool 32: 1--14. Lerman, J. C. and E. M. Cigliano. 1971. New carbon-14 evidence for six hundred years old Canna compacta seed. Nature 232: 568--570. Yeo, P. F. 1993. Secondary pollen presentation: Form, function and evolution. Pl. Syst. Evol., Suppl. 6: 204--208.
