Arrowhead

Arrowhead Leaf and Flowers, Homer Lake Wetland, June 15, 2021

There is no doubt that one reason I like the arrowhead plant is because it is one I can actually identify. The leaves are large, well above the water, and are shaped like arrowheads. The flowers are distinctive as well, bright white with three petals and bright yellow stamens growing on stalks in conjunction with the arrowhead leaves.

I like them too though because they seem to serve the wetland community so well in so many ways. The large common green darner naiads find them useful platforms when it's time to emerge from the water and take on their new lives as aerial predators.

Common Green Darner Exuvia on Arrowhead Leaf, July 2, 2021

Arrowhead leaves are, in fact, sturdy enough to provide a great resting place for a gray treefrog as well (and yes, the frog below is pale green-- gray treefrogs can change colors between green and gray).

Gray Treefrog Resting on Arrowhead Leaf, July 2, 2021

And of course, as flowering plants, they provide nectar and pollen to pollinators from outside the aquatic community in exchange for pollination services.


And if that is not enough good for one plant to do, according to this article from the U.S. Forest Service, at least one of the 24 North American species has edible tubers which helped sustain the Lewis and Clark expedition during a long, hard winter!

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