Plant · P-271

Canna

Canna indica

Canna Indica's rhizome is the source of canna starch, sold as Queensland arrowroot - it has the largest starch grains of any plant and is unusually easy to digest, with no toxic compounds to cook away first, unlike most other starchy tropical roots. The same plant doubles as livestock feed: cattle and pigs eat both the tubers and the leaves, so one planting can produce a food starch and animal fodder off the same ground. It is a true perennial in a hot-summer climate, dying back to the ground at first hard frost and returning reliably from its rhizome each spring, with no lifting or storage needed. It spreads generously by both rhizome and hard black seed, often called Indian Shot, which is easy to manage with a mown margin rather than a problem to prevent.