Description
Edible Canna lilies are usually grown as an ornamental, however unlike most cultivars of Canna lilies, these produce a large, starchy rhizome. With a taste somewhere between potatoes and water chestnuts, the rhizomes can be cooked in all the ways you would cook a potato – boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew. Young shoots and leaves are also edible, and leaves can be used to wrap food in the same way that banana leaves are sometimes used.
Despite also being known as the ‘Queensland Arrowroot’, edible Canna lilies originate from South America where they are known as as Achira and have been used as a staple crop there for at least thousands of years. In Australia, they were once a significant crop, and only fell out of favour due to difficulties with mechanized harvesting.
Upright, broad – leaved plants to 2m are topped with bright red flowers. The plant is hardy and vigorous making it an excellent privacy screen or wind break. If rhizomes are not eaten, the plant produces ‘pups’ regularly making it a very easy plant to propagate.
Care
Requires a sunny position. Soil should be well – draining and well mulched. Cannas do not require high levels of fertilizer however will benefit from periodic application of an all-purpose fertilizer. They exhibit moderate drought tolerance however watering will be necessary during periods of hot weather, especially in the first year of growth. New growth can be encouraged by cutting the plant back to soil level after it has finished flowering.
Suitable for interplanting with other root vegetables and rhizomes such as Sweet potato slips, rooted. ‘Northern Star’ – Ipomoea batatas
Supplied in a 5cm by 8cm soil block.
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