#broadleaf arrowhead

Broadleaf Arrowhead, Sagittaria latifolia, also known as Wapato or Duck-potato - the tubers are edible by humans as well as ducks, and were an important food source in pre-colonial North America

I am slowly converting more and more people into caring about native plants and realizing how cool they are.

It's especially effective when you make an entire long thing explaining all the cool stuff about it and then say you'll give it to them for free lol

The best place so far I have found to buy Wapato is a seller on eBay who lists a sale for a combination of Wapato, water chestnuts, and Chinese Arrowhead, and they also offer selling you just the Wapato, 25 for $30. That is a ridiculously good deal.

Also, just like the Chinese Arrowhead, Wapato also will regrow just from the shoot, you can eat the tuber and just throw the top part in water and it will regrow!

[image description start. A photo of a hand holding a dark green and slightly curved leaf cluster from Wapato, which is growing long white roots, and has a tiny folded arrowhead shaped leaf just starting to emerge from the rest of the short, pointed leaves. The whole thing is held over a container of algae-filled water. Image description end.]

Also, telling people that this is literally what Katniss from the Hunger Games is named after helps gather some interest, especially because most people did not read the books and assumed her name was just made up out of thin air.

We also have monarchs on our aquatic milkweed for the first time ever!!

[image description start. A close-up photo of a tiny Black, yellow, and white monarch caterpillar, curl around it pink flower buds on an aquatic milkweed plant, which has purple bronze leaves, a reddish stem, and yellow aphids clustered around the top. Image description end.]

I also have now have seeds and a plant of saltmarsh mallow, which I *will* be spreading far and wide.

Duck Potato / Wapato / Punta de Flecha

Sagittaria latifolia

This aquatic plant may often be found in shallow, muddy waters at the edges of ponds and rivers, and its common name references the fact that it grows from a delicious tuber whose taste is rather like a combination of a potato and a sweet chestnut. They may be cooked like a potato as well-- remove the bitter outer skin and boil them to remove any aquatic pathogens that cling to them (NOTE: whenever you harvest plants from water in the wild, they must be cleaned and boiled THOROUGHLY before consumption to avoid getting very sick from water-borne microbes!) for at least ten minutes. The young leaves, when still unfurled, may be cooked and eaten like spinach.

The Cherokee made an infusion of the leaves for feverish infants-- first, the baby would take a sip of the infusion, and then the rest would be used to bathe it. The Chippewa made a root infusion for indigestion, and the Ojibwa ate the tubers for the same reason. The Iroquois used a whole plant infusion for rheumatism, and gave the same to children who would wake up screaming in the night. The Algonquin used the root for tuberculosis (side note: TUBERculosis, get it?). A poultice of the root has been placed on wounds and sores, and a poultice of the leaves has been used on the breasts to curtail milk production. The Thompson used the plant as a love charm.

WARNING: this plant can look very similar to arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), which is VERY toxic and must not be consumed or placed on the body. You may tell them apart by the venation of the leaves, but always remember: if you are in doubt, LEAVE IT ALONE!