A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



6. WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY. ALISMACEAE. 



Marsh or swamp plants with basal, usually sheathing leaves 

 and (in some species) white flowers followed by dry fruits 

 in round compact clusters. Petals 3, white. In some species 

 the leaves are not parallel-veined, see especially No. 11. 

 Leaves without much distinction between blade and stalk. 

 Plant 2-6 in. high; a salt-marsh 



plant Narrow-leaved Arrowhead no. 7 



Plant 6-24 in. high; a fresh-water 



plant Grass-leaved Arrowhead no. 8 



Leaves with a well developed, often arrow-shaped blade, and 

 a leaf stalk. 

 Leaf-blades not arrowhead-shaped. 



Petals about 54 in- long; fruit-heads about H in. in diame- 

 ter ; leaves heart shaped at base Bur Head no. 9 



Petals and fruit-heads much smaller, leaves not usually 



heart shaped at base Water-plantain no. 10 



Leaf-blades arrowhead-shaped, usually 

 large Arrow-head no. 11 



7. Narrow-leaved Arrow-head. Sagittaria subulata. A 

 plant of the salt marshes, rarely more than 5 in. high. Leaves 

 without much or any distinction between blade and leaf- 

 stalk, 1-3 in. long. Flowers white, nearly 3^ in. broad, usually 

 in clusters of 3. August. Conn, to Florida, and Alabama. 



8. Grass-leaved Arrow-head. Sagittaria graminca. Some- 

 what similar but much larger and found only in fresh water 

 marshes. Leaves 3-12 in. long, the blade, when developed, 



