Honoring Stacy Iwanicki | Native Plants of Volo Bog: Arrowhead

This is our second post honoring Stacy Iwanicki, the DNR naturalist who has dedicated over 35 years to caring for Volo Bog. This time, we're featuring Stacy's article on Arrowhead (Duck Potato) from the Bog Log of Summer 2000. Perfect timing: arrowhead is blooming right now in the marsh zone of Volo Bog! It's a great time to visit and see these distinctive plants up close. The arrowheads grow very close to the boardwalk, and you can't miss their characteristic arrow-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers. Please read Stacy's complete article and learn about the fascinating Native American uses of this plant.

Arrowhead (Duck Potato) Sagittaria latifolia

Kids love arrowheads – the flint projectile points, that is! But plants named arrowhead... well, they love those, too; probably because they are so distinct and easily recognized and also because they bring up thoughts of people who lived close to the land, hunting with stone points - a time of "wild adventure." Actually, the arrowhead plant served an important role in the lives of Native Americans.

Arrowheads were a favored plant among many peoples, for along the arrowhead's thin roots grew starchy potato-like tubers. Prized by the Chippewa, Menomini, Meskwaki, Ojibwe and Potawatomi, these Native Americans boiled the tubers, much like we use potatoes today. Chippewa were reported to hang the tubers to dry in their wigwams while the Ojibwe boiled and sliced them before stringing and hanging them to dry. The fresh tubers, also called corms, were boiled with deer meat in maple sap much like a stew. Some of the corms were cooked further until the sap thickened into syrup much like a candied sweet potato dish. Swedish explorer Peter Kalm compared the American arrowhead to the European variety; "the plant above ground is entirely the same, while the root underground is much greater than in the European variety..." and said of the Native Americans that he observed "while they had them (the tubers) they desired no other food." Muskrats and beavers also relish arrowhead tubers and will store them in caches, which were often raided by Native Americans as an easy supply. Ducks will also dig up the tubers, thus the alternate name "duck potato."

The leaves of arrowhead are shaped as their name suggests. There are five species of Sagittaria in our area, and Volo Bog's is S. latifolia. The width of S. latifolia leaves varies greatly from wide enough to hide your face to very narrow, almost grass-like. This can be confusing, as a grass-leaved species, S. graminea also exists! However, this latter species does not develop arrow-shaped leaves. Arrowheads belong to the water plantain family, Alismataceae or Alismacea, which is characterized by three-petaled white flowers around a yellow center.

Our arrowhead blooms from late June through early September with flowers about an inch across. There are nine in whorls along the stem. Flowers are followed by round, green, button-like seed pods. The plant can stand up to four feet tall. Arrowheads can be observed along the Volo Bog Interpretive Trail in the marsh moat and along the boardwalk toward the center of Volo Bog.

Water plantain, Alisma subcordatum, a cousin to S. latifolia, also grows on site and can be found in smaller numbers in much the same areas as arrowhead. It is recognized by its oval-shaped leaves and tiny versions of arrowhead's flowers borne in loose clusters called panicles.

Being wetland obligates, arrowheads grow in a wide variety of fresh-water habitats including marshes, bogs, fens, ponds, lakes and river edges. They can also be found in the sunnier spots of swamps (wooded wetlands). They range broadly across most of North America from British Columbia to Nova Scotia south to California, Mexico and Florida.

All the photos are from today, August 21, 2025, by Julia Denne.