Sagittaria latifolia Willd.

Vegetatively very plastic, ± erect and with large, edible tubers; lvs sagittate or sometimes narrow and phyllodial, the blade 5–40 × 0.5–25 cm, with narrow or broad lobes; scape 1–12 dm, with 2–15 whorls of fls, sometimes branching at the lowest whorl, the upper fls staminate on short pedicels, the lower pistillate on longer, ± ascending pedicels; bracts 4–15 mm, boat-shaped, broad-based, rounded above or broadly acute, 4–15 mm, papery but friable at the tip; sep ovate, obtuse, 5–11 mm, reflexed in fr; pet 1–2 cm; stamens 20–40, on slender, glabrous filaments; achenes 2.5–4 mm, winged on the margins only, or with a poorly developed wing on each face, with (var. latifolia) or without (var. pubescens) resin-ducts; beak 0.6–1.8 mm, set at essentially right angles to the body; 2n=22. Abundant in swamps, ponds, and streams; N.S. and Que. to s. B.C., s. to trop. Amer. July–Sept. The widespread, glabrous var. latifolia is uncommon in the principal range of the stellate-hairy var. pubescens (Muhl.) J. G. Sm., which occurs chiefly from the mts. to the coast, from s. Pa. to W.Va. and Ga., w. occasionally to O., Tenn., and Tex.

It grows in warm temperate to tropical places. They grow in the shallow water of ponds. The water can be 25 cm deep. It occurs naturally in mild temperate and tropical wetlands in the Americas. It suits hardiness zones 9-11. It needs fertile soil and accumulated rotting matter in ponds. It needs full sun.

The root tubers are boiled and eaten. They can also be fried or roasted. They are also dried and made into flour.

Plants can be grown from tubers.