A bold, tropical-looking rhizomatous perennial grown for its big, paddle-shaped banana-like leaves and slim spikes of red, orange, or yellow flowers from summer to frost. Native to Central America, South America, and the West Indies, Canna indica is the wild ancestor behind many garden canna hybrids — narrower-flowered and more upright than the showy modern cultivars, with hard, round black seeds once used as shot, which give it its common name. It thrives in heat, humidity, and consistently moist to wet rich soil in full sun, where it forms erect clumps that read as instant tropical structure. In its hardiness range (zones 8a-11b) it overwinters in the ground; colder gardeners lift and store the rhizomes.