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Leaf
Flower and seed pods
Narrow Form:
Sagittaria latifolia
Common Names: Common Arrowhead, Wapato, Duck Potato
Family: Alismataceae
Description: Shoreline perennials with distinctly arrow-shaped leaves
Leaves: Arrow-shaped leaves of varying width; may also have long, narrow, heart shaped floating leaves, and/or long, narrow submersed leaves
Flowers: White, three petaled flowers arranged in circular fashion about a leafless stem in groups of three. Some plants display both male and female flowers (dioecious) while some possess both flower genders on a single plant (monoecious), and still further, some flowers bare both male and female anatomy (hermaphroditic).
Seeds: Small, oval seeds born out of pods from female flowers on matured flower stem
Stem: Swollen at the base; with runners which produce edible tubers in the winter; composed almost entirely of starch
Branching Pattern: Basal
Height: 80 cm
Conditions/Habitat/Kind of Forest: Wet to marginal soil in sunny areas
Range: Much of North America and Hawaii, excluding Nevada
Hardiness Zone: Hardy to USDA zone 3
Conservation Status-US/ World Wide: Common
Uses (Human): Garden plant; pond restoration; edible tuber's during the fall season. Tubers can also be ground into powder and used to make bread. Tea made from the roots is used as a digestive.
References:
Peterson, Roger Tory, and Margaret McKenny. Peterson Field Guides: A field guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and Northcentral North America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1968.
Plants for a Future. June 2004. Accessed: November 29, 2005. <http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Sagittaria+latifolia&CAN=LATIND>
Rook, E. Aquatic Plants Of the North: Sagittaria latifolia. February 26, 2004. Accessed: November 29, 2005. < http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/aquatics/WIP/sagittarialat.html>
Shoreline Plants. Washington State Department of Ecology. Accessed: November 29, 2005. <http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/plantid2/descriptions/sag.html>
USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). Data compiled from various sources by Mark W. Skinner. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.