Sagittaria

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}{{Short description|Genus of aquatic plants}} {{Redirect|Katniss|the ''Hunger Games'' character|Katniss Everdeen}} {{About||the Spanish drag queen|Sagittaria (drag queen)}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Illustration Sagittaria sagittifolia0.jpg |image_caption = ''S. sagittifolia'' 1885 illustration<ref>Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany</ref> |taxon = Sagittaria |authority = L. |type_species = ''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' |type_species_authority = L. |synonyms_ref = <ref name="quack"/> |synonyms = *''Sagitta'' Guett. *''Diphorea'' Raf. *''Drepachenia'' Raf. *''Lophiocarpus'' (Kunth) Miq., illegitimate *''Lophotocarpus'' T.Durand *''Hydrolirion'' H.Lév. }}

'''''Sagittaria''''' is a genus of about 30<ref name="fna">[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=129016 3. Sagittaria Linnaeus], ''Flora of North America''</ref> species of aquatic plants whose members are referred to by the Native American word '''wapato''' ({{IPAc-en |'|w|ɒ|p|ə|t|oʊ}}) and a variety of other common names, including '''arrowhead''', '''duck potato''', '''swamp potato''', '''tule potato''', and '''katniss'''. Most are native to South, Central, and North America, but there are also some from Europe, Africa, and Asia.<ref name="fna"/><ref name="quack">{{Cite web|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30006593-2|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=apps.kew.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref>

== Description == ''Sagittaria'' plant stock (the perennial rhizome) is a horizontal creeper (stoloniferous). The leaf grows up to {{Convert|.3-.9|m|ft|frac=2}} tall, with a shape resembling an arrowhead. Between July and September, a single stalk bears groups of three white flowers with three petals each.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Young |first=Darrell D. |url=https://archive.org/details/wildplantsyoucan00youn/page/17/ |title=Wild Plants You Can Eat |date=1983 |publisher=Julian Messner |isbn=0-671-42407-6 |location=New York |pages=17–20}}</ref> It is obliquely obovate, the margins winged, with an apical or ventral beak; in other words, they are a small, dry, one-seeded fruit that do not open to release the seed, set on a slant, narrower at the base, with winged edges, and having a "beaked" aperture (one side longer than the other) for sprouting, set above or below the fruit body.{{clarification needed|reason=this discription makes no sense|date=February 2024}}

{{gallery|mode=packed |Sagittaria sagittifolia sl33.jpg|Arrow-shaped leaves of ''S. sagittifolia'' |Sagittaria latifolia 15-p.bot-sagit.latif-03.jpg|''S. latifolia'' flowers |Sagittaria trifolia2.JPG|''S. trifolia'' bulbs }}

== Taxonomy ==

=== Species === {{As of|2023|December}} accepted species include:<ref name="quack" /><ref name="GRINSpecies">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?10644 |title=Species Records of ''Sagittaria'' |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=2010-07-13}}</ref><ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=38903 |taxon=''Sagittaria'' |accessdate=13 July 2010}}</ref>

* ''Sagittaria aginashii'' Makino – Japan, Korea, Primorye * ''Sagittaria ambigua'' J.G.Sm. – Missouri Arrowhead – from Oklahoma to Indiana * ''Sagittaria australis'' (J.G.Sm.) Small – Appalachian Arrowhead – southeastern US from Louisiana to Florida and as far north as Iowa and New Jersey * ''Sagittaria brevirostra'' Mack. & Bush – Shortbeak Arrowhead – central US (Great Plains, Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, Great Lakes); also Virginia and Saskatchewan; naturalized in California * ''Sagittaria calycina'' Engelm. – Central & S. U.S.A. to N. Mexico. * ''Sagittaria chapmanii'' (J.G.Sm.) C.Mohr – from Texas to the Carolinas * ''Sagittaria cristata'' Engelm – Crested arrowhead – Great Lakes region * ''Sagittaria cuneata'' E.P.Sheld. – Wapato, Northern Arrowhead, Swamp Potato – most of Canada including Yukon and Northwest Territories; Alaska; western and northeastern US * ''Sagittaria demersa'' J.G.Sm. – Chihuahuan arrowhead – New Mexico, northeastern Mexico * ''Sagittaria engelmanniana'' J.G.Sm. – Engelmann's arrowhead – eastern US from Mississippi to Vermont * ''Sagittaria fasciculata'' E.O.Beal – Bunched Arrowhead – North and South Carolina * ''Sagittaria filiformis'' J.G.Sm. – Threadleaf Arrowhead – eastern US from Alabama to Maine * ''Sagittaria graminea'' Michx. – Grassy Arrowhead, Grass-leaved Arrowhead – Cuba; much of eastern and central US; eastern Canada; naturalized in Washington State and in Vietnam * ''Sagittaria guayanensis'' Kunth – Guyanese Arrowhead – widespread across Latin America, the West Indies, China, India, Southeast Asia; introduced into Louisiana * ''Sagittaria intermedia'' Micheli in A.L.P.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle – Greater Antilles, Colombia, southern Mexico * ''Sagittaria isoetiformis'' J.G.Sm. – Quillwort Arrowhead – Cuba, from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Carolinas * ''Sagittaria kurziana'' Glück – Springtape or Strap-leaf Sagittaria – Florida; naturalized in Mariana Islands * ''Sagittaria lancifolia'' L. – Bulltongue Arrowhead – southeastern US from Texas to Delaware; West Indies; Latin America from southern Mexico to Brazil * ''Sagittaria latifolia'' Willd. – Duck-potato, Broad-leaved Arrowhead, Wapato – widespread across most of North America, the West Indies and northern South America; naturalized in Hawaii, the western Himalayas and parts of Europe * ''Sagittaria lichuanensis'' J.K.Chen, X.Z.Sun & H.Q.Wang – southern China * ''Sagittaria longiloba'' Engelm. ex J.G. Sm. – Longbarb Arrowhead – southern Great Plains, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela * ''Sagittaria × lunata'' C.D.Preston & Uotila – Sweden, Finland, northern Russia ''(S. natans × S. sagittifolia)'' * ''Sagittaria macrocarpa'' J.G.Sm. – Large-fruited Arrowhead – North and South Carolina * ''Sagittaria macrophylla'' Zucc. – Papa de agua – Mexico * ''Sagittaria montevidensis'' Cham. & Schltdl. – California Arrowhead – widespread across much of US, Mexico and South America * ''Sagittaria natans'' Pall. – widespread across northern Europe and Asia from Sweden to Kamchatka; Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea * ''Sagittaria papillosa'' Buchenau – Nipplebract Arrowhead – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma * ''Sagittaria planitiana'' G.Agostini – Brazil, Venezuela * ''Sagittaria platyphylla'' (Engelm.) J.G.Sm. – Delta Arrowhead, Delta Duck-potato – south-central US with scattered populations in southeast, the Ohio Valley and Washington State; also Mexico and Panama; naturalized in South Australia, Italy, Java, Caucasus * ''Sagittaria potamogetifolia'' Merr. – southern China * ''Sagittaria pygmaea'' Miq. – Pygmy arrowhead – China, Japan, Korea, Himalayas, Thailand, Vietnam * ''Sagittaria rhombifolia'' Cham. – Costa Rica; widespread across much of South America * ''Sagittaria rigida'' Pursh. – Canadian Arrowhead – Canada from Quebec to Saskatchewan; common in northeastern and north-central US from Arkansas and Nebraska east to Virginia and New England; scattered populations in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington State; naturalised in Great Britain * ''Sagittaria sagittifolia'' L. – Arrowhead – widespread across most of Europe; Siberia, Caucasus, Turkey * ''Sagittaria sanfordii'' Greene – Valley Arrowhead – endemic to California * ''Sagittaria secundifolia'' Kral – Little River Arrowhead – Georgia and Alabama * ''Sagittaria siamaginashi'' Shiga & K.Itoh – Myanmar to Thailand * ''Sagittaria spatulata'' (J.G.Sm.) Buchenau - New Brunswick to Maryland. * ''Sagittaria sprucei'' Micheli in A.L.P.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle – Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, northern Brazil * ''Sagittaria subulata'' L. Buchenau – Narrow-leaved Arrowhead – eastern US from Louisiana to Massachusetts; naturalized in Great Britain, Azores and Java * ''Sagittaria tengtsungensis'' H.Li – Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Yunnan * ''Sagittaria teres'' S.Watson – Slender Arrowhead – northeastern US * ''Sagittaria trifolia'' L. – Threeleaf Arrowhead – widespread across much of Asia including Siberia, China, Japan, India, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.; also Ukraine and European Russia; naturalized in Fiji and Polynesia * ''Sagittaria weatherbiana'' Fernald –Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

==== Deprecated ==== * ''Echinodorus palaefolius'' (Nees & Mart.) J.F.Macbr. (as ''S. palaefolia'' Nees & Mart.) * ''Limnophyton obtusifolium'' (L.) Miq. (as ''S. obtusifolia'' L.) * ''Wiesneria triandra'' (Dalzell) Micheli (as ''S. triandra'' Dalzell)<ref name="GRINSpecies" />

=== Etymology === The genus comes from the Latin word ''sagittārius'', meaning 'pertaining to arrows',<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2020 |title=Sagittaria |url=http://floranorthamerica.org/Sagittaria |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Flora of North America}}</ref> owing to the leaf shape of many species.

== Uses == thumb|Tuber crisps (chips)

Many species have edible roots, prized for millennia as a reliable source of starch and carbohydrates, even during the winter. Some are edible raw, though are less bitter when cooked.<ref name="edible">{{Cite book |last=Angier |first=Bradford |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetoedib00angi/page/26/mode/2up |title=Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=1974 |isbn=0-8117-0616-8 |location=Harrisburg, PA |pages=26 |oclc=799792 |author-link=Bradford Angier}}</ref> They can be harvested by hand or by treading the mud in late fall or early spring, causing light root tubers to float to the surface. The plants are easy to propagate by replanting the roots.<ref name=":0" />

Native American peoples such as the Algonquian, Omaha, Pawnee, and Winnebago use the tubers for food, prepared by boiling or roasting.<ref name="Smithsonian report" /> They were also planted and eaten in China.<ref name="Smithsonian report" />

==In culture== Other names are ''Pshitola'' (Dakota), ''Si"'' (Omaha-Ponca), ''Si-poro'' (Winnebago) and ''Kirit'' (Pawnee), 'cricket' (from the likeness of the tuber to the form of a cricket); known also as ''kits-hat'', 'standing in water', the tuber being termed ''kirit''.<ref name="Smithsonian report">{{cite book |title=Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution |date=1919 |publisher=U. S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington |url=https://archive.org/stream/annualreportofbu33smithso/annualreportofbu33smithso_djvu.txt}}{{source-attribution}}</ref>

''Sagittaria'' is mentioned in the Omaha myths "Ishtinike and the Four Creators" and "How the Big Turtle Went to War".<ref name="Smithsonian report"/>

In 1749, Peter Kalm mentioned ''Sagittaria'' as a food plant among the Algonquian peoples:<ref name="Smithsonian report"/>

{{blockquote|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.<ref name="Smithsonian report"/>}}American explorers Lewis and Clark used arrowhead tubers to survive the winter of 1805–1806.<ref name=":0" />

Katniss Everdeen of the ''Hunger Games'' franchise was named after '''''Sagittaria'''.''

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Rataj, K., Annot. Zool. Bot. (Bratislava) 76:1–31 (1972); 78:1–61 (1972) * Staff of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Hortus Third, pg. 993

== External links == {{Commons category}} {{Wikispecies}} * [http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Sagittaria+graminea Plants for a Future] * [http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/sagittaria.htm The Arrowheads] * [http://www.northernbushcraft.com/plants/arrowHead/notes.htm Edibility of Sagittaria]: Identification and edible parts of ''Sagittaria''.

Category:Sagittaria Category:Alismataceae genera Category:Edible plants Category:Freshwater plants Category:Root vegetables Category:Tubers Category:Plants used in Native American cuisine Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus