Arrowhead Cigu Swallowtail Grass White Water Chestnut

Scientific name: Sagittaria sagittifolia

Aliases: Cigu, Swallowtail Grass, White Water Chestnut

Family and genus: Alismataceae, Sagittaria

Category: perennial emergent aquatic plant

Morphological characteristics:

Up to 12cm tall, with underground rhizomes, the tip forming a corm, the corm surface covered with membranous scales. The tip has a relatively long terminal bud. Leaves are borne at the base, emerge from the water in a truncate form, the leaf blade is arrow-shaped, entire, the petiole is relatively long and hollow. Submerged leaves are linear, the flower stem is upright, mostly solitary, with a ternate whorled panicle borne on the upper part, florets unisexual on the same plant or on polygamous plants, white, not easily setting seed.

Flowering period July to September. This genus has 25 species, and there are about 5~6 species in China.

Origin and distribution:

Native to China, cultivated in all provinces north and south, and widely distributed in the tropical and temperate regions of Asia, also cultivated in Europe and America.

Growth habits:

It has strong adaptability and can grow on land and in shallow water areas of various water surfaces, but requires sufficient light, and grows in a mild climate and relatively sheltered environment; it requires fertile soil, but grows on clay with a relatively shallow soil layer. Wind and rain easily break the leaves and stems, hindering corm growth

Ornamental applications:

The arrowhead has a peculiar leaf shape and strong adaptability, and can be used as greening material for watersides and banksides, and can also be grown as a potted ornamental.

The arrowhead has had many aliases from ancient times to the present, and the most commonly used one is also called "bud mushroom".

Li Shizhen recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that one arrowhead plant produces 12 fruits, that is to say, one arrowhead plant has 12 fruits; in fact, one arrowhead plant can have as many as 15, and at fewest no fewer than 6.

The arrowhead is an aquatic herbaceous plant, the large ones like an apricot, the small ones like a millet grain. The current superior variety is the "white-fleshed arrowhead" grown in Guangdong. Its advantage lies in being rich in starch, suitable for long-term storage, so it was once called "famine-relief materia medica".

The arrowhead is rich in starch, protein, fat, vitamins, calcium and phosphorus. It can detoxify and cool the blood, strengthen the stomach and relieve cough.

The arrowhead has a long history of cultivation in Dashi Town and is a traditional local specialty product of Dashi Town.

The arrowhead is a perennial herbaceous plant, cultivated as an annual, with a fibrous root system, and the end of the stolon accumulates nutrients and expands to form a corm. The corm is flat and round, the flesh is relatively firm, the skin and flesh are both yellowish-white, rich in starch, slightly bitter, with a unique flavor, and is http://www.cnefs.com">an excellent variety for the Spring Festival.

As a brand of Panyu agriculture, Dashi arrowhead, through government project support, has established a production base, and the cultivation level and product quality have gradually improved, the brand effect has continued to expand, and it is sold far both at home and abroad.

At present, the arrowhead is mainly distributed in the villages of Shaxi, Luoxi, Daxing, Dongxiang and others in Dashi Town. In recent years, the annual planting area has been more than 1200 mu, with an average yield of 1600 kg per mu, and an annual total output of more than 2000 tons. Dashi arrowhead is planted in low-lying, fertile paddy fields. Due to the good cultivation conditions, the arrowhead produced is relatively large in size and of particularly superior quality. It is planted in early August each year and harvested and marketed from the end of December to February of the following year.