WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY 193 



rative touch to the summer landscape. In appear- 

 ance the whole plant is so clear-cut that one must 

 admire it. The smooth and shining stems rise 

 from the water at a small angle from one another, 

 bearing on their ends the triangular, sharply 

 pointed leaves, while from between these the 

 cleanly cut blossom-bearing stalks arise holding 

 the pure white, sub-triangular, pollen-bearing 

 flowers clustered along their upper ends. The 

 seed-bearing blossoms are less conspicuous, lack- 

 ing the white petals. 



More than a dozen species of Sagittaria are 

 found in the United States, though only about 

 half of these have the distinctly arrow-shaped 

 leaf. Most of them remain in blossom from July 

 until September. 



The Arrowheads form much the largest part of 

 the Water Plantain family to which they belong, 

 the other members of the group being small and 

 inconspicuous plants living in damp situations and 

 not generally known. 



