Sagittaria cristata (Crested Arrowhead)

Plant Info
Also known as:
Genus:Sagittaria
Family:Alismataceae (Water Plantain)
Life cycle:perennial
Origin:native
Habitat:part shade, sun; sandy or muddy soil; lake and pond edges, swamps, swales
Bloom season:July - September
Plant height:12 to 30 inches
Wetland Indicator Status:GP: OBL MW: OBL NCNE: OBL
MN county distribution (click map to enlarge):Minnesota county distribution map
National distribution (click map to enlarge):National distribution map

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Detailed Information

Flower: Flower shape: 3-petals Cluster type: raceme Cluster type: whorled

[photo of female flowers] Flowers are whorled in groups of 3 in a spike-like raceme at the top of a naked stem. There are usually both male and female flowers on the same stem, but sometimes a stem has a single gender. Both genders are about 1/3 inch across with 3 broad white petals. Female flowers have a bulbous light green center, covered in tiny carpels.

[photo of male flowers] Male flowers have a group of yellow stamens in the center. The stamen stalk (filament) is covered in yellow hairs giving it a fuzzy appearance.

[photo of bracts and sepals] Behind the flower are 3 small pale green sepals. At the base of the whorl are 3 triangular to egg-shaped bracts, 1/8 to 1/3 inch long. The bracts shrivel up quickly, the brown, papery remains persisting through fruiting. A plant has 1 or more flowering stems, each with 3 to 6 whorls of flowers. Flower stalks are slender, 1/3 to 1¼ inches long, and about the same length for both male and female flowers.

Leaves and stems: Leaf attachment: basal Leaf type: simple

[photo of leaves] A rosette of toothless, hairless basal leaves surrounds the flowering stems. Emersed leaves are lance-elliptic to linear, the blade up to 4 inches long and to ¾ inch wide, on 3-sided stalks up to 20 inches long. Rarely blades may have short lobes at the base. Submersed leaves are lance-linear, 6 to 10 inches long, to 1½ inches wide, tapering to a sharp point at the tip, and relatively stiff. This species has stolons (horizontal stems) but not rhizomes.

Fruit: Fruit type: seed without plume

[photo of fruit] Fruit is a globular head of beaked seeds up to ¾ inch in diameter; the beak projecting at an upward angle or horizontally from just below the top of the seed.

Notes:

The flowers of Crested Arrowhead are probably the most delicate looking—almost frilly—of the 6 Sagittaria species in Minnesota. Its leaves are most similar to Sessile-fruited Arrowhead (Sagittaria rigida), which also has hairy stamens, but is easily distinguished by its stalkless (or nearly so) female flowers and fruits. Also similar is Grass-leaved Arrowhead (Sagittaria graminea), which is not confirmed present in Minnesota but is just to our east in Wisconsin. It is a rhizomonous species without stolons, its submersed leaves are not stiff, and emersed leaves are more grass-like.

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More photos

Photos courtesy Peter M. Dziuk taken at Itasca State Park, Clearwater County.

Comments

Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?

Posted by: Hibaaq Ibrahim - I think I've seen this in my neighborhood (Seward)
on: 2021-08-25 15:32:41

This flower is just beautiful! Thank you for creating this wonderful collection of MN Wildflowers. I'm a botanical muralist and these images help me in my work!

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