Small white flowers with three roundish petals, the arrangement of the flower branches in whorls of 3 are characteristic of the genus Sagittaria. The leaves vary in form from the broad arrowhead-shaped to grasslike The Broad-Leaved Arrowhead, S. latifolia is found at pond edges and shallow marshes and are common throughout the Long Point area.

Arrowhead, common name for any of a genus of aquatic plants, distinguished by unisexual flowers, having three sepals and three colored petals, with numerous stamens and carpels. Arrowheads are native to many climates, from the tropics to the cold regions. About 30 species are known. Several species and many varieties are found in North American waters. The common arrowhead of Europe and the common arrowhead of America have leaves that are usually elongated and triangular, with the basal lobes bent downward, resembling an arrowhead. Scientific classification: Arrowheads constitute the genus Sagittaria, of the family Alismataceae. The common arrowhead of Europe is classified as Sagittaria sagittifolia, and the common arrowhead of America as Sagittaria latifolia.

Arrowhead," Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. © Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.

Water Plantain

Common name for a family of herbaceous, aquatic, or amphibious plants, and for its representative genus. The family is cosmopolitan in distribution and is thought to be one of the flowering plants most closely related to the ancestral type (see Angiosperm). It contains 11 genera and about 100 species, including arrowhead. The family is placed in a small order of minor importance in providing food and decorative greenery in ponds and aquariums. The embryos of plants in the order have one seed leaf (see Monocots), a feature of earlier groups, but the plants have floral and vegetative features that are characteristic of plants that evolved more recently.

Scientific classification: Water plantain is the common name for the family Alismataceae in the order Alismatales. The representative genus of the family is Alisma. Arrowheads are classified in the genus Sagittaria.

Water Plantain," Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. © Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.

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