Bunched Arrowhead Sagittaria fasciculata

Sagittaria fasciculata is a small herbaceous plant that grows in wetlands. It’s the only member of the Sagittaria genus that doesn’t have arrowhead-shaped leaves. It grows about 15 inches tall and blooms mid-May through July.  This plant produces edible tubers that were heavily collected by the native Americans as a food source. Submerged leaves are long and narrow, round in cross-section. Emerging leaves are flat, broadly ovate or lanceolate.

Endangered.  Sagittaria fasciculata is only known to be found in Henderson and Buncombe counties in North Carolina plus Greenville and Laurens counties in South Carolina. The seepage habitat in which Sagittaria fasciculata occurs is extremely threatened, and remaining Sagittaria fasciculata populations are threatened by residential and industrial development, conversion to pasture, and invasive exotic species.