Strelolist strelolistny – strelolist strelolistny

Name: Strelolist strelolisty – strelolist strelolistny

Sagittaha sagittifolia (Sagittaha sagittifolia); common arrowhead, arrowhead, water arrowhead, water arrowhead, shuttlecock, batlan, spearhead arrowhead; Chastukh family (Alismataceae); Strelolist strelolistny

 

It is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows in shallow water and marshy places. Arrowleaf leaves form a basal rosette: underwater – ribbon-shaped, floating – long-petioled, oval or egg-shaped, above-water – arrow-shaped, which is why the plant got its name. The flowers are unisexual, pollinated by insects, and bloom in June-July. Fruits spread by water. Arrowhead grows almost everywhere in ponds with slow-flowing or stagnant water in the middle zone of Russia, the steppe and southern taiga zone, in Ukraine. A little-known but important food plant.

Bulbous formations that grow in the fall at the ends of the shoots and from which new plants develop the following year are used for food. They contain 1.5 times more starch than potatoes and 5 times more protein. Dried tubers accumulate up to 55% of starch and up to 9% of sugars. Raw nodules have a nutty taste. Boiled, they are floury, crumbly, taste like chestnuts or peas, and baked – potatoes. In dried and ground form, the tubers are used as flour for preparing various dishes. In France and some parts of Russia, they are eaten baked. In Japan and China, a special form of arrowroot is grown for food.

In addition, arrowroot is valuable fodder for ducks, muskrats and beavers.

Some forms are bred in reservoirs as an ornamental plant.

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