Canarina canariensis is a plant in the Campanulaceae family endemic to the Canary Islands off the North African Atlantic coast, now a very popular tourist destination due to its reliably desert-like sunny climate year-round. But the higher elevations are yet covered with a relic of tertiary (a geological age classification) forest that acts as an important water trap by condensing water from the clouds. In this moist, cool but absolutely frost-free environment grows -- besides other endemics -- this stunning plant.
It forms a thick, fleshy, beet-like tuber and the shoots are annual, very herbaceous and slightly fleshy, with a marked dormancy during summer. Vegetation starts in August for me, with tiny purple shoots at first that elongate quickly during autumn and winter, and form a big mass of scrambling, branching stems often more than 2 m/6 feet long with a flower at each tip. In habitat it scrambles through scrub, or hangs down cliffs.
I think it is a CITES plant, but it is not rare once you know where it grows. My plant was not wild-collected (I had some, and found them inferior to this clone), but purchased from a specialist nursery in Germany. The flowers of my plant are larger and more intensely coloured, and the plant grows more compactly, is more floriferous, than the type I had before. Flower size is approximately 7cm/3 in long and 5cm/2 in wide. Unfortunately, I never managed to get seed; it is a Campanulaceae - pollen and stigma do not ripen at the same time, and I never know where the pollen is because the inside of the flower contains a lot of pollen-like dust, but fertilisation never took place - in spite of many attempts at hand pollination. I may need another clone to be successful.
With me it is very easy; I grow it in a large pot in very humusy, fertile soil and keep it in the open garden in half-shade during dormancy - but never totally dry. Once it sprouts I tie the shoots and fertilize from time to time. In winter I let it scramble over some structures in my greenhouse. Greenhouse temperatures are always above freezing, but cool to cold. With increasing temperatures in late spring it goes dormant, and completely sheds its shoots. Division of the tuber is possible, but risky.
Information and photos furnished by Johannes-Ulrich Urban.
Here is another photo from Bill Dijk of plants he is growing in New Zealand.
This photo by Mary Sue Ittner is of the very large tuber. This plant was grown from seed. It seems much happier in coastal Northern California living in an unheated greenhouse than being exposed to our wet winters. The tuber is photographed on a grid of 1 cm. squares.
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