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. 
13 
