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PlantKingdom.com
Clickable Taxonomic Tree of the Plant Kingdom
Exerpted Readings on Sagittaria Species
 AHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants |
Sagittaria latifolia Arrowhead
"...(Duck potato, Wapato).
Marginal aquatic perennial with large tubers and variable, mainly arrow-shaped aerial leaves, 4-12in (10-30cm) long. In summer, racemes of whorled white flowers, 1 1/4-1 1/2in (3-4cm) across, are produced on the triangular flower stems, to 4ft (1.2m) tall. Height 18-36in (45-90cm), Spread 36in (90cm). US. Zones 5-11..."
Sagittaria sagittifolia Double Arrowhead
"...(Japanese Arrowhead).
Marginal aquatic perennial bearing arrow-shaped aerial leaves, 10in (25cm) long, with 2 long, acute, basal lobes. In deep water, produces ribbon-like floating leaves, to 32in (80cm) long. In summer, scapes to 3ft (1m) tall bear racemes of white flowers, to 1in (2.5cm) across, with a purple spot at the base of each petal. Height 36in (90cm), Spread indefinite. Eurasia. Zones 6-11. 'Flore Pleno' , syn. S. japonica, is double-flowered..."
"The American
Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants" by
Christopher Brickell,
©1996 Dorling
Kindersley Limited
| Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region |
Sagittaria latifolia Arrowhead
Sagittaria sagittifolia Double Arrowhead
"...Pshitola (Dakota).
Sin (Omaha-Ponca).
Sin-poro (Winnebago).
Kirit (Pawnee), "cricket" (from the
likeness of the tuber to the form of a cricket); known also as
kits-kat, "standing in water," the
tuber being termed kirit
By all these tribes the tubers were used for food, prepared by
boiling or roasting. The Pawnee must have some other use fot the
plant because an old medicine-man showed excited interest when he
saw a specimen in my collection, but he did not communicate to me
what the use is.
In the Omaha myth, "Ishtinike and the Four Creators,"
Sagittaria (Sin)
is mentioned, also in the myth "How the Big Turtle Went to
War".
Peter Kalm in 1749 mentions Sagittaria
as a food plant among the Algonquian Indians:
Katniss is another Indian name
of a plant, the root of which they were likewise accustomed to
eat,... It grows in low, muddy, and very wet ground. The root is
oblong, commonly an inch and a half long, and one inch and a quarter
broad in the middle; but some of the roots have been as big as a
man's fists. The Indians either boiled this root or roasted it in
hot ashes. ... Their katniss is an
arrow-head or Sagittaria, and is
only a variety of the Swedish arrow-head or
Sagittaria sagittifolia, for the plant above the ground
is entirely the same, but the root under ground is much greater in
the American than in the European. Mr. Osbeck, in his voyage to
China, mentions that the Chinese plant a
Sagittaria, and eat its roots.
This seems undoubtedly to be a variety of this katniss...."
Sagittaria sagittifolia Double Arrowhead
"...Pshitola (Dakota).
Sin (Omaha-Ponca).
Sin-poro (Winnebago).
Kirit (Pawnee), "cricket" (from the likeness of the tuber to the form of a cricket); known also as kits-kat, "standing in water," the tuber being termed kirit
By all these tribes the tubers were used for food, prepared by boiling or roasting. The Pawnee must have some other use fot the plant because an old medicine-man showed excited interest when he saw a specimen in my collection, but he did not communicate to me what the use is.
In the Omaha myth, "Ishtinike and the Four Creators," Sagittaria (Sin) is mentioned, also in the myth "How the Big Turtle Went to War".
Peter Kalm in 1749 mentions Sagittaria as a food plant among the Algonquian Indians:
Katniss is another Indian name of a plant, the root of which they were likewise accustomed to eat,... It grows in low, muddy, and very wet ground. The root is oblong, commonly an inch and a half long, and one inch and a quarter broad in the middle; but some of the roots have been as big as a man's fists. The Indians either boiled this root or roasted it in hot ashes. ... Their katniss is an arrow-head or Sagittaria, and is only a variety of the Swedish arrow-head or Sagittaria sagittifolia, for the plant above the ground is entirely the same, but the root under ground is much greater in the American than in the European. Mr. Osbeck, in his voyage to China, mentions that the Chinese plant a Sagittaria, and eat its roots.
This seems undoubtedly to be a variety of this katniss...."
"Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region"
by Melvin R. Gilmore, © 1977 by the University of Nebraska Press.
Kingdom = Plantae
Subkingdom = Tracheobionta
SuperDivision = Spermatophyta
Division = Magnoliophyta
Class = Liliopsida
Subclass = Alismatidea
Order = Alismatales
Family = Alismataceae
Genus = Sagittaria
Included Species =
Sagittaria aginashi
Sagittaria cuneata (Wapato, Arrowhead, Swamp Potato)
Sagittaria fasciculata (Bunched Arrowhead)
Sagittaria graminea (Grassy Arrowhead)
Sagittaria lancifolia (Bulltongue Arrowhead)
Sagittaria latifolia (Duck-potato, Broad Leaf Arrowhead, Wapato)
Sagittaria montevidensis (California Arrowhead, Giant Arrowhead, Ruby-Eyed Arrowhead)
Sagittaria platyphylla (Delta Arrowhead, Delta Duck-potato)
Sagittaria rigida (Canadian Arrowhead)
Sagittaria sagittifolia (Arrowhead, Old World Arrowhead, Japanese Arrowhead)
Sagittaria subulata (Narrow-leaved Arrowhead)
Sagittaria trifolia
Cross referenced against the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Taxonomy Browser, and the WikiSpecies website.
Pronunciations and derivations taken from "Dictionary of Plant Names"
Sagittaria - sa-gi-tah-ree-a. From Latin sagitta (an arrow)
referring to the shape of the leaves.
latifolia - lah-tee-fo-lee-a. Broad-leaved. N. America.
sagittifolia - sa-gi-ti-fo-lee-a. With arrow shaped
leaves. Europe, Asia.
'Flore Pleno' - flo-ree-play-no. (= S. japonica 'Flore Pleno').
With double flowers.
trifolia - tri-fo-lee-a. Three-leaved, the leaves are
three-lobed. N. hemisphere.
Buy the "Dictionary of Plant Names" from
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