BROAD-LEAVED ARROWHEAD 



Sagittaria latifolia. Water-plantain Family. 



THE Arrowhead is a very decorative and common, 

 mud-loving, white-flowered aquatic perennial, 

 blooming from July to September, in shallow water 

 along the margins of slow streams, ponds, and marshes. 

 The exceedingly variable leaves are generally arrow- 

 shaped, sometimes sharp and narrow, or again blunt 

 and broad. They are thick, spongy, and rubbery, 

 and have long stems. Others, which are entirely 

 submerged under the water, are long and grass-like. 

 The many-angled, milky-juiced, flowering stalk is either 

 stout or slender, and grows from a few inches to sev- 

 eral feet in height. The flowers have three prom- 

 inent, rounded, spreading, white petals with either a 

 central cluster of golden yellow stamens or a large, 

 green pistil. They are of two sorts, male and female, 

 and may or may not occur together on the same plant. 

 In the latter case, the pretty male, or yellow-centred, 

 stamen-bearing flowers are borne on the upper part of 

 the stalk, while the female or green-centred, pistil- 

 bearing flowers occur below them. They are arranged 

 in whorls of three, on short stems, at regular dis- 

 tances along the stalk. The calyx has three green 

 parts. The Arrowhead ranges from Mexico far into 

 the British Possessions, and from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific. S. pubescens is a robust, broad leaved variety, 



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