[L. canna reed, CANE, taken in Bot. as the name of an entirely different genus.] A genus of endogenous plants (N.O. Marantaceæ), with brightly colored flowers, yellow, red, or orange, and ornamental foliage, natives of warm climates, but cultivated in Britain.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 197. Sow on the Hot-bed … Canna Indica … and the like rare and exotic Plants.
1767. J. Abercrombie, Ev. Man Own Gard., 742/2. Canna, Indian shot, or canacorus.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Sept., 4/1. Mark also the crescent-shaped bed of Cannas—the Indian shot, as it is sometimes called, from the seed being so hard that the Indians used it as a missile.
