Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Chapman's Arrowhead - Sagittaria chapmanii   (J.G. Smith) Mohr
Members of Alismataceae:
Members of Sagittaria with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Family Alismataceae
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Author(J.G. Smith) Mohr
DistributionFound only in the southern Coastal Plain, from Carteret, Onslow, Bladen, and Columbus counties.

This is a southern Coastal Plain species ranging north to southeastern NC and then south to southern FL and west to southeastern LA.
AbundanceVery rare, found only at a few scattered and isolated wetlands. It is State Endangered and has a State Rank of S1.
HabitatThis has one of the most restrictive habitats of any native vascular plant, being limited mainly to limesink ponds, very rarely in scrapes and ditches.
PhenologyBlooms from May into September, and fruits shortly after flowering.
IdentificationThis is one of a number of small species of Sagittaria, most also being rather slender in stature. This species has a somewhat flat leaf blade, being narrowly elliptical and several inches long, atop the stalk of 6 inches or longer. The inflorescence is a panicle (i.e., is branched) of small 3-petaled white flowers, atop a slender stem rising to about 1 foot tall. The very similar and more widespread S. graminea has the inflorescence unbranched. S. chapmanii has leaf blades less than 2/5-inch wide, whereas S. weatherbeiana has them from 1/2-1-inch wide, and with blunt tips (as opposed to acute in S. chapmanii). Thus, to search for this species, you will need to visit a limesink pond, and search for a narrow-leaved plant with leaf blades clearly wider than the stalk (though still less than 2/5-inch wide). You might well need the inflorescence to see one that has branches, so as to rule out S. graminea.
Taxonomic CommentsThis species is often treated either completely within S. graminea, as a variety of it, as a subspecies of it, or as a good species. Weakley (2018) does treat it as a good species, and NatureServe also does in 2024.

Other Common Name(s)None
State RankS1
Global RankG3?
State StatusE
US Status
USACE-agcpOBL link
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B.A. Sorriesame data OnslowPhoto_natural
B.A. SorrieOnslow County, 1990, Camp Lejeune, depression pond. OnslowPhoto_natural
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