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In their ‘Flora Peruviana’ of 1798 Ruiz & Pavón listed 3 species of Canna. Apart from C. indica they described 2 new species: C. paniculata and C. iridiflora, both based on Peruvian material.

The third species of Canna, C. flaccida, has been described and illustrated by Salisbury in 1791 from a plant originally collected by J. Bartram in South Carolina, USA, and at the time generally cultivated in gardens in England (cf. typification of C. glauca).

In 1789 the first list of plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, ‘Hortus kewensis’, was compiled by W. Aiton. It comprises C. glauca and C. indica. Aiton recognizes 4 varieties of C. indica based on flower colour, flower parts being erect or reflexed, and shape of the...

One year later, in 1754, Miller still uses the generic name Cannacorus in the abbreviated 4th edition of his Gardeners Dictionary. The genus comprises 6 species, described by more than 2 Latin words, the first being ‘C. latifolius vulgaris. Tourn.’ (= Canna indica). In the 8th edition of ‘The Gardeners...

In 1737 Linnaeus published ‘Hortus Cliffortianus’, a list of the plants cultivated in the garden of G. Clifford in the Netherlands, and ‘Viridiarum Cliffortianum’, an abbreviated version of the former book. He noticed 2 ‘kinds’ of plants from this garden: 1. Canna spathulis bifloris (= Canna indica) originating from the...

In 1732 Dillenius made a list of the plants cultivated in ‘Hortus Elthamensis’, the garden of J. Sherard in Eltham (now in Southeast London) in England, in which he described and illustrated Canna flaccida, originating from South Carolina, USA. He did not realize his ‘Cannacorus glaucophyllos, ampliore flore, iridis palustris...

In 1700 De Tournefort gives the first detailed illustration of the floral parts of a flower and fruit of Canna (as Cannacorus or ‘Balisier’), mentioning 6 species. He illustrates 3 sepals and 1 petal which is divided into 6 lobes: 1 of these lobes bears both anther and stigma.

Rumphius treating Canna in the fifth volume of his Herbarium Amboinense (1747: 177) recalls encountering rosaries made of the seeds of Canna found in the possession of an Arabian (?) prisoner taken into custody at Ambon (Indonesia) in 1685.

Between 1678 and 1693 Van Rheede tot Draakestein published ‘Hortus Indicus Malabaricus’, a book on the medicinal plants of a Dutch colony in SE India. As was customary in this period, people were much interested in local medicines to help keeping the inhabitants of the new colony healthy, and especially...

In 1671 Bauhin published the second editions of both his ‘Prodromus Theatri Botanici’ and ‘Pinax’. In these books Canna is still placed in one group with Arundo inodora (Phragmites), Arundo odorata (Calamus), and Arundo indica (comprising bamboo, sugar cane, and Canna).