Its specific epithet tuerckheimii commemorates Hans von Türckheim, a 19th-century German plant collector.

[2] Canna tuerckheimii is a relatively large species with vast stems carrying large green leaves and high carried orange-red flowers.

Flowers are erect orange-red, 5.5 –9 cm (2¼—3½in) long; floral tube not curved, composed of 9 coloured parts; petals not reflexed; with 4 staminodes.

[3] Canna tuerckheimii is native to Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador at 500–2,000 m (1,600–6,600 ft) of elevation.

[4] Paulus Johannes Maria Maas and Nobuyuki Tanaka, both experts on the genus Canna, disagree on the correct taxonomic placement of this species, with Tanaka considering the correct placement for the species to be C.