
AQUATIC PLANTS OF FRESHWATER 

Sagittaria lancifolia (Linn.) or Lance-leaved Arrowhead is an erect 
and slender plant with the scape sometimes 4 to 5 feet high. The leaves 
are variable and may be lanceolate or narrow oblong, nerved with a thick 
midrib, and the flowers white in several whorls. Native in the United 
States from Delaware to the tropics. 
Sagittaria montevidensis (Cham. and Schlecht) or Giant Arrowhead 1s 
a very large plant which may grow to 6 feet in height with leaf blades 1 
to 2 feet long and 3 to § inches across. It is native to South America but 
has been naturalized in the southern part of the United States on both the 
Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It will grow in pots and thrives fairly well in the 
house. May be had of dealers. Quite generally used in Aqua-terraria. 
For aquarium culture Sagittaria should be planted in bunches or 
clusters of three to five plants with the lower tufts deeply set directly 
into the sand or pebbles, so that the runners will remain covered. 
The younger plants will be the most likely to thrive in transplanting, as the 
older leaves usually die down in the fall and winter season, and sometimes 
after transplanting, but the tufts continually develop new foliage. Those 
species of Sagittaria which bear linear leaves and remain submerged the 
greater part of the year are preferable for the house aquarium; those which 
grow above the surface are handsome foliage plants rather than efficient 
oxygenators. 
CABOMBA 
Of the aquarium plants those most generally obtainable are the 
Cabombas, the botanical name taken by Linneus from the aboriginal 
Guianese, but popularly known as the Watershield, Fanwort, Fish Grass, 
Washington Grass, etc. It is a genus of three species, native to the 
warmer parts of America, all of similar habit, rooting in the mud and sand 
of streams, ponds and lakes, and having slender branching stems which 
grow to a length of several feet. It is a submerged plant except in mid- 
summer, when the flowers are borne above the water accompanied by the 
floating floral leaves. The submerged fanshaped leaves aré finely dissected, 
opposite or sometimes verticillated, and the floral leaves small and entire. 
The tiny flowers are white and yellow, and the fruit enclosed in a prickly 
pod or casing. 
Cabomba caroliniana (Gray.) C. viridifolia (Hort.) or Carolina Water- ~ 
shield, Fig. 113, is the species most usually to be obtained of dealers and 
is largely grown for the aquarium purposes in Maryland, District of 
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