Has anybody grown or is growing duck potato?

[PondmaninAL]

Last year, I had two plants. This year, I haven't seen them coming back but maybe they are. I got two pots with what looks like arrowheads sprouting out. I'm wondering if that is it coming up in the two pots. If you got it or had it, tell me about it's return in Spring.

[Esther]

That's one I've never heard of so guess I don't have it or know about it.

[Sunbeam56]

That's it!
http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_sala2.pdf

[PondmaninAL]

Thank you, Savannah.

Now do you know what it is, Esther?

What I would like to see is photos of the first signs of it's return. After reading the information that Savannah brought forth,
I now know that it is capable of surviving Alabama Winters. It was one of the plants on my "Most Wanted Plants" list that I made up after moving to Florida. When it was offered to me by a club member down there who had two big stands of it in her pond but didn't know what it was, I almost hyperventilated with excitement, as I hadn't seen it in the wild. Maybe I will take a pic of it today and post it here and on the club Yahoo!Group (to see if she can confirm it)

Keep the replies coming. If that's it, it might be on offer soon.

[PondmaninAL]

Okay, here are a few pics of what I have. Can someone tell me for sure that this is duck potato?

[Sunbeam56]

Yup, that's it. 

[Esther]

HI Scott. AGAIN, I was wrong. LOL. You weren't making it up. I just couldn't figure out how a duck and a potato could be combined to describe a plant.

[Kat]

I've had it for a few years.  It is a tough plant.  Every time I think I've killed it off, it comes back.

[PondmaninAL]

Yup, that's it. 

Savannah, you really have this plant?

HI Scott. AGAIN, I was wrong. LOL. You weren't making it up. I just couldn't figure out how a duck and a potato could be combined to describe a plant.

Esther, you are rarely wrong but this time you were. Actually, it's called duck potato because ducks will eat the tubers that it produces. Another plant that shares that trait with it is the common arrowhead.

I've had it for a few years.  It is a tough plant.  Every time I think I've killed it off, it comes back.

So Kat, you can confirm the pics as being that of Duck Potatoes?

Thanks y'all.

[Kat]

That looks about right to me but don't hold it against me if I'm wrong.  I don't pay much attention to mine.

Here is a really old photo.

[Sunbeam56]

Its either feral or native here. Grows in the ditches.

[PondmaninAL]

Savannah, it is a native. That doesn't mean that it can't be considered a noxious weed. I know for a fact that they are native to Florida and Alabama but they may be native to the whole Southern United States.

Kat. yours has narrower leaves than mine did. You should have seen it where I got it from. She had two big stands of it, one on each side of a fake bridge. They stood 4-5' tall with the flower spikes taller. I actually got a small stand of them that was starting to form. They weren't in a pot. I also got my regular cattail starts from this same person and they were in a tub size pond with another plant that she gave me some of but don't know what it was. It hasn't come back, yet.

Thanks everyone.

[Johns]

I tried duck potato years ago and found it to be invasive here, so I got rid of it.

[Esther]

Invasive stuff can really be a problem. I have a mint that not only sends out runners but seeds something fierce. I'm pulling up babies and runners all summer.