Cannas are tropical garden plants with exotic flowers and foliage. The canna genera is included in the cannaceae family, which comes in the order Zingiberales, and in botany and taxonomy it is closely related to banana (musa), maranta, and ginger (zingiber).

There are various species and in horticulture they show great variation in flower and leaf form, including variegated leaves. Cultivation is easy from a rhizome, tuber or seed.

This plant was much used in Victorian and Edwardian gardens and hence is of interest in heritage planting and in the history of gardening.