WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



105 



Flowers in ours monoecious, the staminate above. Ovaries numer- 

 ous, crowded on a globose receptacle. Achenes flat, more or less 

 winged and beaked by the short style. (From the 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 equaling it; racemes with few 



to several whorls I. A 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. 8. Savfonlii. 



1. S. latifolia Willd. Common Arrow-head. Leaves very 

 variable, the smallest but 2 or 3 in. in total length, the largest 7 or 8 

 in. long from the summit of the petiole to the obtuse or abruptly acute 

 apex; basal lobes lanceolate to broadly ovate, acuminate, divaricate, 

 15 in. or less from the tip of one to the other; scape simple or 

 branched, \ to 3 ft. high; bracts scarious, 2£ to 5 lines long, the pedi- 

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

 stamens 25 to 35; achene 14 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. From these tubers a long root- 

 stock grows out in the Spring, which, at its upper end, gives rise to 

 leaves and scapes. 



2. S. Greggii J. G. Smith. Sanford 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 11 lines long, 

 equaling or rather shorter than the pedicels; stamens 30 or more; 

 achenes 1 to 1£ lines long, tumid, crested on both margins, circular or 

 the ventral margin almost straight, nearly beakless. 



Stockton, Sanford, original and only known locality in California. 



3. S. Sanfordii Greene. Stockton Arrow-head. Leaves 2 to 

 3 ft. long; petioles obtusely triquetrous, £ to 1£ 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£ ft. high or more; bracts triangular, 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; stamens 20, the 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. 



Stockton, Sanford; not otherwise known. The sepals of the pistil- 

 late flower in this and the preceding species are reflexed or spreading. 

 S. Montevidensis C. & S. is (acc. to J. G. Smith) a ballast plant at 

 Stockton; it may be known by its erect accrescent sepals and by a 

 brownish-purple spot at the base of the petals. 



