What is duck potato?

Duck potato is an emersed plant. It's large leaves and conspicuous flowers make it easy to find in the wild. It grows commonly in swamps, ditches, lakes, and stream margins.

Duck potato gets its name from its potato-like, underground corms that sometimes form. Duck potato has large, firm, lance-shaped leaves, which are typically four inches wide and up to two feet long. The leaf bases taper to the stem. The leaves grow as a fan-like rosette from underground rhizomes. Duck potato flowers are typical sagittaria flowers: showy and white, with three petals. Flowers are extended on thick stalks that are often a foot or more above the leaves.