Edible canna (Canna edulis, also treated as a form of Canna indica), known in the Andes as achira and in Australia as Queensland arrowroot, is the fleshy underground rhizome of a tall, broad-leaved tropical plant grown for its starch. The rhizome is a knobbly, jointed swelling ringed with purplish scale-leaves, packed with dense, faintly sweet, gummy starch; slow-cooked it turns soft and translucent, while rasped and washed it yields achira — a clean, glossy arrowroot-style flour whose starch grains are among the largest known of any plant. It is quite separate from true arrowroot (Maranta), though the two share a name and a use as fine, easily digested cooking starches.