Queen of Italy

Canna 'Queen of Italy'

Canna 'Queen of Italy'

(Humbert Group)(Heritage Group)

Origin PERCY-LANCASTER Sydney
Parentage sport of C. 'Roi Humbert'
Height Medium, over 3ft/90cm
Foliage Variegated
Form Branching
Flower Multi-coloured
Blooming Outstanding bloomer
Tillering Prolific
Available Specialist

Introduced by Sydney Percy-Lancaster, Alipore Cannas, India in 1910, Canna 'Queen of Italy' is a medium sized cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, oval shaped, acute apex, branching habit; oval main stems, coloured green; oval flower stalks, coloured green + purple; spikes of flowers are open, yellow heavily spotted with tomato red, staminodes are large, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, outstanding bloomer, blooms open in the early morning; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.

Canna 'Queen of Italy'

Canna 'Queen of Italy' is available from specialist growers; breeding is a somatic mutation of C. 'Roi Humbert 1er'.

The colours describe above are the main colours seen, but this chimera sport can give us any combinations of red and yellow flowers and green and/or purple foliage, stalks and stems and even the colour of the rhizomes varies between white and purple.

In Asia, for more than a century, all of these 'King Humbert' mutations were know as 'Queen of Italy', the name given when Mr Percy-Lancaster first introduced the sport to an amazed world. Many other names have been given to it since, as New World nurserymen attempt to re-market what went before, e.g. 'Queen Helena', 'Yellow King Humbert', 'Cleopatra'.

As this sport is a somatic mutation and is genetically bizarre, it is not realistic to treat the subsequent names as mere synonyms, as the mutation could have happened many different times over the years, and with different DNA results.

Therefore a new group has been created, called the 'Humbert Group', so that the different commercial names can all be acknowledged equally. Once again, the use of groups is shown to be the sensible way forward.

In addition, the chimera has a a habit of reverting to look like either of its different parentage, 'Roi Humbert' and 'Asia' respectively, but even then is not stable, and can again re-revert! Rather than try and describe this phenomena with pseudo-science names, we just state that it is one of the Humbert Group and leave it like that.

The group name (Humbert Group) replaces the various combinations of (Italian Group)(Chimera Group)(Sport Group)(Variegated Group)(Heritage Group), but if you feel like retaining any of them then that is within the naming rules of ICNCP as well.

When Karl Sprenger, the principal of Damman et Cie of Naples in Italy, introduced Canna 'Roi Humbert 1er' to the world in 1902, he said that we would be truly amazed and he has proven to be correct with the many mutations and combinations performed by this unique chimera.

References

David Clulow

See ‘Cleopatra’

Dr. Khoshoo & Dr. I. Guha: Evolution of Cultivated Canna 1966

x orchiodes, tall (80-160cm), foliage green, broad staminodia (5-7 cm) spotted. In the collection of the Royal Agri-Horticultural Society , Alipore, Calcutta, India.

Claines Canna Collection 2006

Summary: This a chimera, which means that it is genetically bizarre. Flowers are yellow and tomato red in various combinations of dots, streaks or solids. Sometimes all red and all yellow flowers occur on the same stalk. Size: Medium Flower: Yellow and tomato red in various combinations of dots, streaks or solids. Sometimes all red and all yellow flowers occur on the same stalk. Foliage: Large medium green leaves with an occasional deep red stripe. Origin: A somatic mutation of C. 'Roi Humbert 1'.

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