Sagittaria rigida

Sessile-fruited arrowhead

Family: Alismataceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Sessile-fruited arrowhead is a naturalized perennial herb found in ponds, streams, and marshes in the northern California Central Valley, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, and northern Coast Ranges at elevations of 6 to 1,385 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers with distinctive staminate flowers featuring dilated, pubescent filaments. Growing with tubered stems that bend at the inflorescence, the plant develops both submersed and emergent leaves, with underwater leaves having blade-like petioles and emergent leaves featuring linear to elliptic blades that can be hastate or sagittate in shape. Its emergent leaves have blade-like or three-angled petioles, creating a distinctive structural profile in aquatic environments. The fruit features a recurved beak measuring 0.8 to 1.4 millimeters long, with sepals that become reflexed when the fruit matures.

Habitat: Ponds, streams, marshes

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 6-1385 m

Bioregions: CaRH (Plumas Co.), ScV (Tehama Co.), CCo (Marin Co.)

California counties: Tehama, Plumas, Marin

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.