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© Frances Michaels
COMMON NAMES: arrowhead, duck potato, kuwai, chi gu, swamp potato
BOTANICAL NAME: Sagittaria sagittifolia syn. Sagittaria sinensis FAMILY: Alismataceae PLANT DESCRIPTION An attractive aquatic edge plant with arrow shaped leaves and edible tubers. This species doesn’t appear to flower and so will not spread from seed. This is desirable as some species of Sagittaria do set seed and can become weedy. It is very hardy, grows to 30 cm high and likes full sun.
USES The tuber flesh is cream coloured and is eaten boiled, baked or fried, it should not be eaten raw. The protein content of 4 to 7% is high for a root crop. The young shoots can also be eaten. A simple way to prepare arrowhead is to boil tubers until tender, slice it thin and serve with butter or sesame oil. If any should be left over, unbuttered, serve cold with a vinaigrette dressing as a salad.
PLANTING Plant the tubers in early spring 4-5 cm deep and space the tubers at least 10 cm apart. This is an easy to grow plant with no special growing requirements other than maintaining a cover of shallow water, 100 - 300 mm deep, over the soil. A pond isn't necessary to grow most aquatic edible plants, old concrete laundry tubs and bathtubs can be recycled. If they are sunk into the ground and edged with rocks, they can look very attractive. If using this type of container to grow aquatic edible plants, than the entire container should be two-thirds filled with a mixture of 70% good quality topsoil, preferably a loam containing some clay and 30% well-rotted manure or compost. Make sure when adding the soil that enough head room is left to add the correct depth of water. The tubers can be planted directly into this soil mix and water added until the surface is covered to the appropriate depth. If using a pond than suitable large pots would be filled with the soil mix and the tubers planted into this, finish by using a topping of gravel or pebbles as a mulch to keep the soil in place. Water well before placing in the pond. If necessary arrange bricks under the pots to bring them to the correct depth from the surface of the water. To construct a pond a waterproof lining will be needed. This can be made of concrete or a synthetic rubber liner. Synthetic rubber or EPDM. liners are long lasting and flexible and easy to install. Concrete is the most versatile material.
HARVEST The tubers are ready to harvest when the leaves turn yellow and die back.
Available from Green Harvest: July to September 2009
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ARROWHEAD GROWING
INFORMATION