Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

Americas

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Tough growth

Status

Common

About

A genus of aquatic and marsh plants named for their distinctive arrowhead-shaped leaves that emerge above the water's surface. Their starchy underwater tubers, sometimes called duck potatoes or wapato, were a staple food gathered by Indigenous peoples and were noted in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Alismatales

Family

Alismataceae

Genus

Sagittaria