WATER PLANTAIN TRIBE 13 
starry form. This was one of the numerous plants which had an old repute 
for curing the imagined poison of the sea-hare. It is also known as Dama- 
sonium stellatum. 
3. ARROW-HEAD (Sagittdria). 
Common Arrow-head (S. sagiitifélia).—Leaves on long stalks, all 
from the root, arrow-shaped, the lobes lanceolate and straight ; flowers 
of two kinds on the same plant, the upper ones containing a large number 
of stamens, the lower ones with carpels only. The staminate flowers 
are larger than the pistillate ones, and are supported on longer footstalks. 
The large bright green arrow-shaped leaves of this plant render it of easy 
recognition, even by those who are not botanists. The borders of many a 
stream or river present a mass of verdure by the quantities of its foliage. 
In July and August very pretty white 3-petalled flowers, with purple centres, 
sometimes a blush of pink upon them, grow in whorls, on a stalk about six 
or eight inches above the water. The plant sends out runners, each one 
ending in a tuber, and these tubers contain a large portion of a nutritious 
substance. In China, Japan, and Siberia, the plant grows in great abundance 
in the pools; and the Chinese cultivate it to a considerable extent, as the 
tubers constitute a large proportion of their vegetable food. The tubers are 
dried ; and the powder into which they are ground is described as similar to 
the West India arrowroot, but having a somewhat acrid flavour. Probably 
this acridity might be removed by the same preparation as that which 
renders the far more acrid root of the Arum as tasteless as the flour of 
wheat. The Chinese use several plants as food which are not commonly 
considered fitted for it; and their Government gives considerable attention 
to the subject. Dr. Badham, in his work on the “Edible Funguses of 
Britain,” mentions a Chinese work, consisting of six volumes, with plates, 
entitled the “‘ Anti-famine Herbal,” containing the descriptions and represen- 
tations of four hundred and fourteen different plants, whose leaves, rinds, 
stalks, and roots, are fitted to furnish food for the people, when drought, 
ravages of beasts, or the overflow of the great rivers, has caused a failure of 
rice and other grain. The Chinese Government annually prints and dis- 
tributes this book gratuitously in the districts which are most exposed to 
these calamities ; and the Doctor adds, that the example of the Chinese 
ought to be suggestive to us that a more general knowledge of the properties 
and capabilities of esculent plants would be an important branch of educa- 
tion. It has been suggested that the Arrow-head should, in this country, be 
cultivated as an experiment ; but it is thought that this would be attended 
with too great an expense. The tubers attain a larger size in China than in 
this country. 
Mr. Baxter, referring to this beautiful aquatic, remarks, ‘‘ Representations 
of this often occur in Oriental paintings, associated with the consecrated 
cyamus, or sacred bean. The late Mr. Richard Payne Knight, so distinguished 
for profound learning, suggested to Sir J. E. Smith, that as the cyamus is an 
acknowledged emblem of fertility and reproduction, the Arrow-head indicates 
the contrary, or a destroying power. They are the Egg and the Anchor, or 
the Arrow-head, so-general in architectural ornaments.” 
