Delta arrowhead facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Delta arrowhead |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Sagittaria
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| Species: |
platyphylla
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Sagittaria platyphylla, also called the delta arrowhead, broad-leaf arrowhead, or delta duck-potato, is a type of water plant. It naturally grows in the eastern United States. You can find it from central Texas to the Florida Panhandle, and north to southern Illinois.
Sometimes, people plant Sagittaria platyphylla because it looks nice. This has caused it to spread to new areas. It has been found in places like Washington state, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. It has also spread to Nuevo León and Michoacán in Mexico, and even Panamá.
In some countries, like Australia, this plant has become a problem. It grows too much and can harm local plants. In 2015, S. platyphylla was found for the first time in China, specifically near the Yangtze River Basin. It was seen in an irrigation ditch in Zhangjiashai, Wuhan, Hubei.
Since then, it has continued to spread in the provinces of the middle and lower Yangtze River areas. This plant is now a big concern for the environment and farming in the Yangtze region. It can especially cause problems for irrigation systems used to water crops.
About the Delta Arrowhead Plant
This plant is an emergent aquatic species. This means it grows in water, but its leaves and flowers rise above the surface. You can find it in ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams.
Sagittaria platyphylla is a perennial herb. This means it lives for more than two years. It can grow up to 150 centimeters (about 5 feet) tall. It also produces underground corms, which are like small, round storage stems, similar to tubers (like potatoes).
The plant can make new plants in two ways. It can grow from stolons, which are like runners that spread along the ground or under the water. It also produces seeds.
Some of the plant's leaves stay completely submerged underwater. These submerged leaves have flat petioles (the stalks that attach the leaf blade to the stem) but no true leaf blades. Other leaves grow above the water. These emergent leaves have oval or elliptical blades that can be up to 17 centimeters (about 6.7 inches) long.
The plant's Inflorescence (flower cluster) is a raceme. This means the flowers grow along a central stem. It has 3 to 9 whorls of flowers. A whorl is a ring of leaves or flowers around a stem. The flowers are white and can be up to 2 centimeters (about 0.8 inches) wide.
