﻿Bath. p.47. — Mack. Catal. of PI. of Ire), p. 82. — Sagittaria aqudtica , Gray’s 

 Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 216. — Sagitta, Ray’s Syn. p. 2, r )8. — Sagittdria major el 

 minor, Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 416. 



Localities. — In watery ditches, ponds, and margins of rivers. Not uncom- 

 mon in most parts of England, and Ireland. Not found in Scotland : Sir J. E. 

 Smith. — Very abundant about Oxford ; also about Rugby in Warwickshire, on 

 the banks of the Avon, and in ponds and watery ditches near it: 1831, W. B. 



Perennial. — Flowers in July and August. 



Root (fig. 8.) tuberous, somewhat egg-shaped, or nearly globular, 

 with many long fibres. Herb milky, smooth. Leaves all from the 

 root, on long, triangular, very cellular footstalks (see fig. 7.) ; the 

 first, which are always under water, long, and strap-shaped, by 

 some authors considered as a variety, and well figured in Flora 

 Danica, t. 172. ; the succeeding, which rise above the water, large, 

 truly arrow-shaped, very entire, smooth, with parallel ribs and 

 reticulated veins. — Nothing, observes Sir J. E. Smith, is more 

 variable than the breadth and size of the leaves, which are dimi- 

 nished almost to nothing when deeply immersed in the water, or 

 exposed to a rapid current. Hence several varieties are mentioned 

 by authors, but the slightest observation will discover them to be 

 evanescent. Flowers handsome, 3 in each whorl, with combined, 

 egg-spear-shaped bracteas at the base of their partial stalks. Petals 

 white, with a purplish tinge at the claw, soon falling off. It is not 

 uncommon with very small, narrow leaves, in the canal between 

 High Bridge and Hayfields Hut, near Oxford. 



This species ol Sagittaria is a native of Siberia, China, Cochin-china, Japan, 

 and Virginia, as well as of Europe, in pools, ditches, and slow streams. Re- 

 presentations of this plant often occur on oriental porcelain, associated with the 

 consecrated Cyamus, or Sacred Bean, whose history is given in Exotic Botany, 

 v. i. t 59. The late Mr. Payne Knight, so distinguished for his piofound 

 learning, suggested to Sir J. E. Smith, that. “ as the Cyamus is an acknow- 

 ledged emblem of fertility and reproduction, the Arrow-head indicates the con- 

 trary, or a destroying power. They are the Egg, and the Anchor, or Arrow- 

 head, so general in architectural ornaments.” 



The Arrow-head is one of our most beautiful plants, and a great ornament to 

 our rivers and pools in the months of June, July, and August. The tuhers, 

 (fig. 8.) which are produced at the extremity of the roots, in the mud at the 

 bottom of the water, are said to constitute a considerable part of the food of the 

 Chinese, on which account this plant is much cultivated by them ; they are said 

 to be very similar to those of the West India Arrow-root, ( Maranta Arundi- 

 naceaj and are sometimes dried and pounded, but are reported to have an 

 acrid unpleasant taste ; hut this might, it is believed, be got rid of by washing 

 the powder in water. — Horses, goats, and swine eat this plant ; cows are not 

 fond of it. 



The Natural Order Alisma'ce.e is composed of Monocotyle- 

 donous, Herbaceous Plants, which grow in watery places, and on 

 the margins of rivers, pools, and brooks. The leaves are radical, 

 entire, with parallel veins, and broad expansions. The flowers 

 either separated or united. The sepals 3, and herbaceous ; the 

 petals 3, and corollaceous ; the stamens definite or indefinite ; the 

 ovaries ( germens of Sm.) superior, several, 1-celled ; the ovules 

 solitary, or 2, attached to the suture, at a distance from each other ; 

 the styles and stigmas the same number as the ovaries ; the fruit 

 (seeds of Sm.) dry, not opening, 1- or 2-seeded ; the seeds without 

 albumen ; the embryo curved in the shape of a horse-shoe, undi- 

 vided, with the same direction as the seed. See Lind. Syn. p. 253. 



