The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Sagittaria latifolia
Also called Duck-potato, Wapato, Common Arrowhead, Muskrat Potato, Broad Leaved Arrowhead, Swamp Potato
A wetland perennial that spreads in colonies and is grown in shallow water for its starchy tubers, which taste like potatoes. Care centres on keeping the roots wet or submerged.
Sagittaria latifolia is a wetland plant in the family Alismataceae, native to North America and northern South America; common names include broadleaf arrowhead, duck-potato, Indian potato, or wapato. This plant produces edible tubers that have traditionally been extensively used by Native Americans.
This plant is easily cultivated in 0.15 to 0.45 m (6 to 17+1⁄2 in) of water with no or little current. The tubers are planted well spaced (no more than 12 plants per square meter) at the end of May at a depth of 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 in). Fertilize with decomposed manure. They can be multiplied through seeding or division in July. The starchy tubers, produced by rhizomes beneath the wet ground surface, have long been an important food source to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, along with those of S. cuneata. The tubers can be detached from the ground in various ways: with the feet, a pitchfork, or a stick, and after digging up, the tubers usually float to the surface. Ripe tubers can be collected in the autumn, when they are also often found floating freely.
Sagittaria latifolia is native to southern Canada and most of the contiguous United States, as well as Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Cuba. It is also naturalized in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Bhutan, Australia and much of Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Romania, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and European Russia). In Mexico, it is reported from Campeche, Nayarit, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Puebla, Jalisco, Durango, Tlaxcala, Estado de México, Veracruz and Michoacán.
The starchy tubers were consumed by Native Americans in the lower Columbia River basin, in addition to the Omaha and Cherokee nations. The tubers can be eaten raw or cooked for 15 to 20 minutes. The taste is similar to potatoes and chestnuts, and they can be prepared in the same fashions: roasting, frying, boiling, and so on. They can also be sliced and dried to prepare a flour.
Kansas arrowhead · Longbeak arrowhead · Shortbeak arrowhead · Crested arrowhead · Arumleaf arrowhead · Chihuahuan arrowhead · Engelmann's arrowhead · Bunched arrowhead · Threadleaf arrowhead · Grassy arrowhead · Quillwort arrowhead · Springtape
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sagittaria latifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
