Valley arrowhead facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Valley arrowhead
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Alismataceae
Genus:	Sagittaria
Species:	S. sanfordii
Binomial name
Sagittaria sanfordii Greene
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Sagittaria sanfordii, also known as the valley arrowhead or Sanford's arrowhead, is a special kind of flowering plant. It belongs to the water plantain family. This plant is unique because it only grows naturally in California. You can find it in a few places along California's North Coast and in the Central Valley. Sadly, many places where it used to grow, especially in the Central Valley, have disappeared. This happened because its watery homes were lost due to human activities.

Discovering Valley Arrowhead

The valley arrowhead is an aquatic perennial herb. This means it's a water plant that lives for many years. It can grow quite tall, up to 130 centimeters (about 4 feet) high! It grows from a round, underground part called a tuber.

What It Looks Like

Most of the time, the leaves of the valley arrowhead are underwater. They can be long and thin, like straps, or shaped like narrow spears. These leaves can grow up to 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) long from the stem under the water.

How It Reproduces

This plant is special because it is monoecious. This means that one single plant has both male and female flowers. The flowers grow on a stalk that rises above the water's surface. This stalk is called an inflorescence. It looks like a raceme, which means the flowers are arranged along a central stem.

The flowers grow in groups called whorls. The female flowers are found at the bottom of the stalk. The male flowers are found higher up on the stalk. Each flower can be up to 3.5 centimeters (about 1.4 inches) wide and has white petals.

Male and Female Flowers

The male flowers have rings of stamens in their centers. Stamens are the parts that produce pollen. The female flowers have a round cluster of pistils. Pistils are the parts that receive pollen and develop into fruits. After the female flowers are pollinated, these pistils grow into a head of tiny fruits.