ALISMACE^— WATER PLANTAIN 



FAMILY 



BROAD-LEAVED ARROW-HEAD 



Sagittdria variabilis. Sagiltdria laHfolia 



Sagittaria, referring to the arrow-shaped leaves of some 

 species. 



Perennial. Native. A very common and decorative 

 aquatic plant standing in shallow water or in mud, bear- 

 ing loose spikes of white flowers from a bed of arrow- 

 shaped leaves. A plant of continental distribution. 

 July-September. 



Roots. — Fibrous, sending out stolons. 



Leaves. — Arrow-headed or halberd-shaped, broad oi 

 narrow, on long petioles, exceedingly variable. 



Flowers. Monoecious or dioecious; white, an inch to 

 an inch and a half across, in three-bracted whorls of three, 

 borne near the summit of a leafless scape six inches to 

 three feet high. 



Calyx. — Sepals three, persistent. 



Corolla. — Petals three, rounded, spreading. 



Stamens. — Variable, inserted on the convex receptacle; 

 yellow in the upper flowers, often imperfect or absent in 

 the lower pistillate flowers. 



Pistils. — Numerous in the pistillate flowers; sometimes 

 imperfect in the staminate flowers; stigmas small, per- 

 sistent. 



Fruit. — Akenes, densely aggregated into globose heads, 

 compressed. 



Pollinated by bees and flies. 



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