''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' (also called arrowhead due to the shape of its leaves) is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Alismataceae The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 19 genera (17 extant and 2 fossil) and 117 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northe ...

, native to

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, and in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, Japan,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, China, India, Australia,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. It is also cultivated as a food crop in some other countries. In

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

it is the only native ''Sagittaria''. Tachi Omodaka inverted

''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' is a herbaceous

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, growing in water from 10–50 cm deep. The leaves above water are arrowhead-shaped, the leaf blade 15–25 cm long and 10–22 cm broad, on a long petiole holding the leaf up to 45 cm above water level. The plant also has narrow linear submerged leaves, up to 80 cm long and 2 cm broad. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are 2-2.5 cm broad, with three small sepals and three white petals, and numerous purple stamens.

Cultivation and uses

The round

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...

is edible. It tastes bland, with a starchy texture, similar to a

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

but somewhat crunchier, even when cooked. In Japan, it is known as () and its tuber is eaten particularly during the New Year. In China, it is known as and often used in winter hot pots. In Vietnam, the plant's young petiole leaves and rhizomes are used for soups. Remnants of ''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' have been found in the Paleolithic/Mesolithic site of Całowanie in Poland. ''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' is used in Chinese medicine, and in 2006 seven new ent-rosane diterpenoids and a new labdane diterpene were purified from the plant. Four of these compounds (Sagittine A–D) exhibited antibacterial activity against '' Streptococcus mutans'' and '' Actinomyces naeslundii'' while another ( Sagittine E) was only active against ''A. naeslundii'' (MIC = 62.5 μg ml–1). Recently, the same group identified five new diterpenoids from '' Sagittaria pygmaea''. None displayed activity against ''A. actinomycetemcomitans'', while four of the others were active against ''A. viscosus'' and three against ''S. mutans'', of which 18-ß-D-3',6'-diacetoxyglucopyranosyl-ent-kaur-16-ene was the most active.

As a weed

''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' can be weedy or invasive according to the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ). It also appears on state noxious weed lists for 46 states.

References

External links

Sorting Sagittaria names
{{Authority control sagittifolia Root vegetables Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Europe Flora of Russia Flora of Australia Flora of Siberia Flora of Japan Flora of Turkey Flora of China Flora of Vietnam Flora of Armenia Flora of Georgia (country) Flora of Azerbaijan Freshwater plants Edible plants