Sagittaria latifolia Willd.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Alismataceae

• Scientific Name

  Sagittaria latifolia Willd.

• Description

  Species Description - Vegetatively very plastic, ± erect and with large, edible tubers; lvs sagittate or sometimes narrow and phyllodial, the blade 5–40 × 0.5–25 cm, with narrow or broad lobes; scape 1–12 dm, with 2–15 whorls of fls, sometimes branching at the lowest whorl, the upper fls staminate on short pedicels, the lower pistillate on longer, ± ascending pedicels; bracts 4–15 mm, boat-shaped, broad-based, rounded above or broadly acute, 4–15 mm, papery but friable at the tip; sep ovate, obtuse, 5–11 mm, reflexed in fr; pet 1–2 cm; stamens 20–40, on slender, glabrous filaments; achenes 2.5–4 mm, winged on the margins only, or with a poorly developed wing on each face, with (var. latifolia) or without (var. pubescens) resin-ducts; beak 0.6–1.8 mm, set at essentially right angles to the body; 2n=22. Abundant in swamps, ponds, and streams; N.S. and Que. to s. B.C., s. to trop. Amer. July–Sept. The widespread, glabrous var. latifolia is uncommon in the principal range of the stellate-hairy var. pubescens (Muhl.) J. G. Sm., which occurs chiefly from the mts. to the coast, from s. Pa. to W.Va. and Ga., w. occasionally to O., Tenn., and Tex.

• Common Names

  common arrow-head, wapato