White and Greenish 



Broad-leaved Arrow-head 



{Sagittaria latifolia) Water-plantain family 

 (5. variabilis of Gray) 



Flowers — White, i to i >4 in. wide, in 3-bracted whorls of 3, borne 

 near the summit of a leafless scape 4 in. to 4 ft. tall. Calyx 

 of 3 sepals ; corolla of 3 rounded, spreading petals. Stamens 

 and pistils numerous, the former yellow in upper flowers ; 

 usually absent or imperfect in lower pistillate flowers. Leaves: 

 Exceedingly variable ; those under water usually long and 

 grasslike ; upper ones sharply arrow-shaped or blunt and 

 broad, spongy or leathery, on long petioles. 



Preferred Habitat — Shallow water and mud. 



Flowering Season — ^J u ly — September. 



Distribution — From Mexico northward throughout our area to the 

 circumpolar regions. ^ 



Wading into shallow water or standing on some muddy shore, 

 like a heron, this striking plant, so often found in that bird's haunts, 

 is quite as decorative in a picture, and, happily, far more approach- 

 able in life. Indeed, one of the comforts of botany as compared 

 with bird study is that we may get close enough to the flowers to 

 observe their last detail, whereas the bird we have followed labori- 

 ously over hill and dale, through briers and swamps, darts away 

 beyond the range of field-glasses with tantalizing swiftness. 



While no single plant is yet thoroughly known to scientists, 

 in spite of the years of study devoted by specialists to separate 

 groups, no plant remains wholly meaningless. When Keppler 

 discovered the majestic order of movement of the heavenly bodies, 

 he exclaimed, "Oh God, I think Thy thoughts after Thee ! " — the 

 expression of a discipleship every reverent soul must be conscious 

 of in penetrating, be it ever so little a way, into the inner meaning 

 of the humblest wayside weed. 



Fragile, delicate, pure white, golden-centred flowers of the 

 arrow-head, usually clustered about the top of the scape, naturally 

 are the first to attract the attention whether of man or insect. Be- 

 low these, dull green, unattractive collections of pistils, which by 

 courtesy only may be called flowers, also form little groups of 

 three. Like the Quakers at meeting, the male and female arrow- 

 head flowers are separated, often on distinct plants. Of course 

 the insect visitors — bees and flies chiefly — alight on the showy 

 staminate blossoms first, and transfer pollen from them to the dull 

 pistillate ones later, as it was intended they should, to prevent self- 

 fertilization. How endless are the devices of the flowers to guard 

 against this evil and to compel insects to cross-pollinate them ! 

 The most minute detail of the mechanism involved, which the 

 microscope reveals, only increases our interest and wonder. 



154 



