All plants /Aquatic /Arrowhead
Arrowhead
Sagittaria latifolia, water plantain family. Uncommon in East and Central Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Starchy tubers ('duck potato')
- How
- Boiled or roasted like a potato
- When
- Fall into winter
- Where
- Marsh edges, pond margins, slow water
- Value
- Starch
Caution: Cook the tubers; they are unpleasant raw. Harvest only from clean water, and confirm the arrowhead-shaped leaves. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
Bold arrowhead-shaped leaves standing at the water's edge with three-petaled white flowers. The tubers sit in the mud below, hence 'duck potato.'
In the kitchen
Dislodge the tubers with your feet and let them float up. Cooked, they eat like a nutty potato and were a major Indigenous starch.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.