page_title: Canna (plant)
section_title: Asexual propagation
hierarchical_section_title: Canna (plant) / Uses / Propagation / Asexual propagation
caption_attribution_description: English: seb951 took this image. Image of plants growth in vitro.
context_page_description: Canna or canna lily is the only genus of flowering plants in the family Cannaceae, consisting of 10 species. Cannas are not true lilies, but have been assigned by the APG II system of 2003 to the order Zingiberales in the monocot clade Commelinids, together with their closest relatives, the gingers, spiral gingers, bananas, arrowroots, heliconias and birds of paradise.
  The plants have large foliage and horticulturists have developed selected forms as large-flowered garden plants. Cannas are also used in agriculture as a rich source of starch for human and animal consumption.
  Although plants of the tropics, most cultivars have been developed in temperate climates and are easy to grow in most countries of the world as long as they receive at least 6–8 hours average sunlight during the summer, and are moved to a warm location for the winter. See the Canna cultivar gallery for photographs of Canna cultivars.
  The name Canna originates from the Latin word for a 'cane' or 'reed'.
context_section_description: Division of plant parts
  Outside of a laboratory, the only effective asexual propagation method is rhizome division. This uses material from a single parent, and as there is no exchange of genetic material, it almost always produces plants that are identical to the parent. After a summer’s growth, the horticultural cultivars can be separated into typically four or five separate smaller rhizomes, each with a growing nodal point ('growing eye').  Without the growing point, which is composed of meristem material, the rhizome will not grow.
  Micropropagation
  Micropropagation, also known as tissue culture, is the practice of rapidly multiplying stock plant material to produce a large number of progeny plants. Micropropagation uses in vitro division of small pieces in a sterile environment, where they first produce proliferations of tissue, which are then separated into small pieces that are treated differently so that they produce roots and new stem tissue. The steps in the process are regulated by different ratios of plant growth regulators. Many commercial organizations have produced cannas this way, and specifically the “Island Series” of cannas was introduced by means of mass-produced plants using this technique. However, cannas have a reputation for being difficult micropropagation candidates.
  Micropropagation techniques can be employed to disinfest plants of a virus. In the growing tip of a plant, cell division is so rapid that the younger cells may not have had time to be infected with the virus. The rapidly growing region of meristem cells producing the shoot tip is cut off and placed in vitro, with a very high probability of being uncontaminated by virus.
caption: In vitro culture of plants in a controlled, sterile environment
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