Crested Arrowhead

Herbs, annual or perennial, to 75 cm; rhizomes absent; stolons present; corms present. Leaves emersed, sessile, phyllodial, linear to lanceolate, flattened, 15--25(--40) ´ 1.5--4 cm, or petiole triangular, 15--50 cm, blade linear to elliptic-lanceolate, 4--10 ´ 0.3--2 cm. Inflorescences racemes, of 3--6 whorls, 1.5 ´ 4 cm; peduncle 20--60 cm; bracts connate greater than or equal to ¼ total length, ovate, 4--10 mm, nearly scarious, not papillose; fruiting pedicels spreading, cylindric, 0.8--3 cm. Flowers to 0.8 cm diam.; sepals recurved to spreading, not enclosing flower; filaments dilated, exceeding anthers in length, pubescent; pistillate pedicellate, without ring of sterile stamens. Fruiting heads 1.2--2 cm diam.; achenes cuneate-obovoid, abaxially keeled, 2.5--3 ´ 1.4--1.8 mm, beaked; faces not tuberculate, wings 1, ± entire, glands absent; beak ascending to horizontal, 0.4--0.7 mm.

Ont.; Ill., Iowa, Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., Wis.

Flowering summer (Jul--Aug).

Sandy margins and bottoms of lakes, ponds, and swamps; 100--1000m.

Sagittaria graminea Michaux var. cristata (Engelmann) Bogin

Sagittaria cristata Engelm.; Arthur, Proc. Davenport Acad
Sci. 4 : 29. 1884.
Plants wholly or partially submerged, 3-7.5 dm. tall ; leaves various, the earlier ones stout, the linear-lanceolate phyllodia 8-15 cm. long, the later leaves several times longer than the phyllodia ; blades linear-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 6-11 cm. long, 3-sided, much shorter than the petioles ; scape elongate, commonly about as long as the leaves, simple ; whorls of the inflorescence 4-6, the lowest one with pistillate flowers ; pedicels 1-3 cm. long; bracts 4-7 mm. long, distinct or nearly so; sepals ovate, becoming 5-7 mm. long; corolla about 2 cm. wide; filaments pubescent; anthers ovoid; fruit-head 15-20 mm. in diameter ; achenes cuneate-obovate, about 3 mm. long, with the dorsal margin undulate and the ventral margin straight, the two facial wings crested, the beak near the top of the achene-body, horizontal.
Type locality : Emmett County, Iowa.
Distribution : Minnesota and Iowa, and western New York (?) .

Sagittaria cristata, the crested arrowhead, is a plant species native to Ontario and north-central United States (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan). It grows in shallow water along the edges of lakes, streams and marshes.

Sagittaria cristata is a perennial herb up to 75 cm (30 inches) tall. Leaves are flat, long and narrow, not lobed, up to 40 cm (16 inches) long. Flowers are white.