Arrowhead, Broadleaf - Sagittaria latifolia

Sagittaria latifolia is also known as Broadleaf Arrowhead, Wapato, or Duck Potato. It is a an aquatic perennial native to Michigan and the UP. It grows in part shade to full sun, on the sandy or muddy edges and shallow water of rivers, ponds, lakes, swamps, and swales. It thrives in or near water up to 1 foot deep and prefers organic soils and slow water.
 
The plant has a rosette of basal leaves with one or more flower stalks that can reach 2 feet in height above the water line, with up to a foot of vegitation below the water. The flowers are white and showy, blooming in mid summer. Sagittaria latifolia can spread by seed or stolon on favorable sites, but is usually not overwhelming. It is great for shoreline naturalization and erosion control, breaking up wakes and providing food and shelter for fish, waterfowl, and other aquatic life, including the dragonflies that eat mosquitos. Its starchy tubers are a traditional food source. This plant offers great pollinator resources and is visited by both honeybees and a variety of native bees, beetles, syrphid flies, and butterflies. The leaves host a variety of insects, including moth caterpillars and caddisflies that in turn feed birds and fish. Ducks eat the seeds and tubers, and muskrats and turtles can utilize almost the whole plant.