Sagittaria spathulata

Annual(?), mostly submersed at high tide, emersed or stranded at low tide, the rare, permanently emersed lvs sagittate with short basal lobes, the more characteristic lvs modified into narrow phyllodia 4-18 נ0.5-1 cm, the free end often spatulate and to 1.5 cm wide; petioles and scapes terete; scape thick but weak, to 1 dm, with 1-2(3) whorls of fls or only a solitary fl; bracts ovate, obtuse, scarious, 2-5 mm; lower (or all) fls perfect; sep 3-5 mm, oblong-orbicular, appressed to the fruiting head; pet ovate, 4-5 mm; stamens ca 12, with linear, glabrous filament; fruiting pedicels recurved; achenes 1.5-2 mm, narrowly winged on the margins, the oblique to horizontal beak ca half as long as the width of the body; 2n=22. Brackish to nearly fresh tidal waters and salt marshes; N.B. and adj. Que. to N.C. July-Sept. (S. montevidensis var. spongiosa; Lophotocarpus spathulatus; L. spongiosus)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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