WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY. 33 



2. SAGITTARIA L. Arrow-head. 

 Marsh or aquatic herbs with fibrous roots and milky juice. Leaves broadly 

 sheathing, commonly sagittate or sometimes without basal lobes or even without 

 a blade. Flowers pedicelled, borne in whorls of 3 on the upper part of the 

 stem, with membranous bracts. Flowers in ours monoecious, the staminate 

 above. Stamens inserted above the receptacle. Ovaries numerous, crowded on 

 a globose receptacle. Achenes flat, more or less winged and beaked by the 

 short style. (Latin sagitta, an arrow, referring to the shape of the leaves.) 



Pedicels of pistillate flowers slender, ascending; leaves sagittate. 



Basal lobes much shorter than the upper one or equalling it; racemes with few to 



several whorls 1. 5". latifolia. 



Basal lobes less than twice as long as the upper one; racemes with numerous whorls.. 



2. S. greggii. 



Pedicels of pistillate flowers much thickened and reflexed in fruit; leaves not lobed at 



base ; racemes with few whorls 3. S. sanfordii. 



1. S. latifolia Willd. Tule Potato. Leaves very variable, 2 to lfi in. in total 

 length; basal lobes lanceolate to broadly ovate, acuminate, divaricate; scape 

 simple or branched, ^ to 3 ft. high; bracts scarious, 2 1 /) to 5 lines long, the 

 pedicels of the pistillate flowers very much longer; flowers monoecious; 

 achene l 1 - 2 lines long with somewhat swollen dorsal wing and long horizontally 

 oblique beak. 



Common on the islands and river shores of the interior. The tubers of this 

 species are edible and are made much use of by the Chinese of the lower 

 Sacramento. 



2. S. greggii J. G. Smith. Stockton Arrow-head. Stout, erect; leaf- 

 blades 8 to 18 in. long, the widely divergent lanceolate basal lobes longer than 

 the ovate and acuminate or lanceolate upper lobe; scape erect, 5-angled below, 

 branching at its summit into several ascending, for the most part long racemes, 

 with numerous whorls of flowers; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, 7 to 14 lines 

 long, equaling or rather shorter than the pedicels; achenes 1 to \y. 2 lines long, 

 tumid, crested on both margins, circular or the ventral margin almost straight, 

 nearly beakless. 



Stockton, original and only known locality in California. 



3. S. sanfordii Greene. Saxford Arrow-head. Leaves 2 to 3 ft. long; 

 petioles obtusely triquetrous, y 2 to iy 2 in. thick at the base; blades linear- to 

 oblong-lanceolate, about 4 in. long, tapering into the spongy petiole, or almost 

 obsolete in submersed plants; scapes stout. 1\ 2 ft. high or more; bracts 

 triangular, 2y 2 to 3 lines long, connate at base; whorls of flowers few. the 

 pedicels of the pistillate ones reflexed in fruit; sepals ovate, 2 to 3 lines 

 long; anther longer than the filament; achenes 1 line long, rather markedly 

 winged on both the inner and outer margins, the sides reticulated ; beak 

 oblique, short, triangular. 



Lower San Joaquin. About 100 acres of pure growth occurs just below the 

 San Joaquin Bridge near Banta; on account of the tubers this area is fed 

 out with hogs (J. A. Sanford). The sepals of the pistillate flower in this 

 and both preceding species are reflexed or spreading. S. montevidensis C. & S. 

 is (ace. to J. G. Smith) a ballast plant at Stockton; it may be known by the 

 erect accrescent fertile sepals and by a brownish purple spot at the base of the 

 petals. 



3. LOPHOTOCARPUS T. Durand. 

 sely allied to Sagittaria. Fertile flowers with stamens. Sepals erect and 

 appressed in fruit. Stamens hypogynous. (Greek lophos, crest, and karpos, 

 fruit.) 



