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• Aquatic plants
• Water plants with leaves and stems
• Sagittaria cuneata

Sagittaria cuneata — northern arrowhead

Facts

Northern arrowhead produces three types of leaves, depending on water depth. Strap-shaped phyllodia are found on deep-water plants, floating leaf blades on moderate to deep-water plants, and sagittate leaf blades on recurved petioles on emersed plants. The rhizomes, young leaves, young shoots and young inflorescences are all edible, but it is the corms that are most widely valued for food. The Ojibwa prepared them boiled fresh, dried, or candied them with maple sugar.

Habitat

Floodplain (river or stream floodplains), lacustrine (in lakes or ponds), riverine (in rivers or streams), shores of rivers or lakes, wetland margins (edges of wetlands)

Characteristics

• Clonal plantlets

  Turion length

  0 mm

• Flowers

  Anther color

  there is a noticeable pink, reddish or purplish tint to the anthers

  Carpels fused

  the carpel is solitary or (if 2 or more) the carpels are not fused to one another

  Flower lower lip length

  0 mm

  Flower number

  6–30

  Flower position

  the flowers are above the surface of the water

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Inflorescence length

  140–210 mm

  Inflorescence type

  the inflorescence is a raceme (a long unbranched stem with stalked flowers growing along it)

  Inflorescence width

  20–100 mm

  Length of flower stalk

  5–20 mm

  Length of peduncle

  100–500 mm

  Nectar spur

  the flower has no nectar spurs

  Number of carpels

  At least 3

  Ovary position

  the sepals and/or petals are attached below the ovary

  Palate on corolla

  no

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal color

  white

  Petal fringed edges

  the petals are not fringed

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Petal hairs on inner/upper surface

  there are no hairs on the inner/upper petal surface

  Petal length

  7–10 mm

  Petal number

  3

  Petal or sepal number

  there are three petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower

  Pistil number

  • 0
  • 6 or more

  Sepal appearance

  the sepals resemble leaves in color and texture

  Sepal length

  4–8 mm

  Sepal number

  3

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are separate from one another

  Spur length

  0 mm

  Stamen number

  • 0
  • 13 or more

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

  Stamens fused

  the stamens are not fused to one another

  Stamens fused to petals

  the stamens are not fused to the petals or tepals

  Style number

  At least 0

• Fruits or seeds

  Fruit beak length

  0.1–0.5 mm

  Fruit length

  1.8–2.6 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is an achene (dry, usually 1-seeded, does not separate or split open at maturity)

  Fruit width

  1.3–2.5 mm

• Glands or sap

  Oil glands on nodes

  none of the nodes have oil glands

  Sap

  the sap is milky and opaque, and may be white or colored

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Root septa

  the roots have transverse septa

  Roots floating in water

  there are no clusters of roots floating in the water

  Turions

  there are no turions on the plant

  Underground organs

  the plant has one or more swollen storage organs underground, such as bulbs, tubers or corms

• Leaves

  Bract position (Sparganium)

  NA

  Bract relative length

  At least 1379 mm

  Bracts

  the flowers or their pedicels have bracts at their bases

  Floating leaf basal lobes

  yes

  Floating leaf blade width

  35–40 mm

  Floating leaf length

  75–90 mm

  Floating leaf shape

  • the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped with backward-facing rounded lobes)
  • the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is sagittate (arrow-shaped with backward-facing pointed lobes)

  Floating leaf tip

  the tip of the floating leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)

  Floral bract form

  the bracts are roughly as lobed as the foliage leaves

  Floral bract length

  4–40 mm

  Leaf arrangement

  the leaves are growing only at the base of the plant (basal)

  Leaf blade length

  25–450 mm

  Leaf blade veins

  the lateral veins are parallel or slightly arched in the direction of the tip

  Leaf blade width

  15–110 mm

  Leaf position

  • some of the leaves are floating at the surface of the water
  • the leaves are all submerged underwater

  Leaf special features

  none of the mentioned special features are present

  Leaf-like branch segments

  0

  Leaf-like branch shape

  NA

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf is not divided, rather the blade is made up of one segment

  Staminate bract edge (Myriophyllum)

  NA

  Stipule appearance

  NA

  Stipule fused to leaf

  NA

  Stipules

  there are no stipules on the plant

  Stipules fused around stem

  NA

  Trap-bladder length

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf air passage number

  At least 1439

  Underwater leaf air passage relative width

  At least 4336

  Underwater leaf air passage row number

  0

  Underwater leaf blade edges

  the underwater leaf has smooth edges, without teeth

  Underwater leaf blade shape

  the underwater leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)

  Underwater leaf length

  Up to 450 mm

  Underwater leaf stalk

  yes

  Underwater leaf stalk length

  Up to 450 mm

  Underwater leaf tip shape

  the tip of the underwater leaf is acute (sharply pointed)

  Veins in floating leaf

  anything

• Place

  Habitat

  • aquatic
  • wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • edges of wetlands
  • in lakes or ponds
  • in rivers or streams
  • river or stream floodplains
  • shores of rivers or lakes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem growth form

  the flowering stem is upright

Wetland status

Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae