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Peltandra virginica is a plant of the Araceae family known by the common names green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in the eastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North America as an introduced species and often an invasive plant.

This is an emergent perennial herb growing from a large rhizome and producing many large leaves. An individual leaf may have a petiole nearly a meter long and a blade half a meter in length. The leaves are quite variable in shape and size, but they are often generally arrowhead-shaped.

The inflorescence bears male and female flowers, as well as sterile flowers. The flower varies from whitish to greenish to yellow. The fruit is a brown berry containing a few seeds within a clear gelatinous pulp. Large number of seeds can accumulate in the soil of wetlands.

The fly Elachiptera formosa breeds in this plant, mating on the inflorescence and laying eggs there, so the larvae can feed on the rotting spadix.

The plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, making it unpalatable. Native Americans used most parts of the plant for food, however, cooking it for hours first to make it safe to eat.

Introduction
Arow Arum, Peltandra virginica, is a member of the Araceae family and is more commonly known by the names Tuckahoe, Green Arrow Arum, Peltandre and Virginia Wake Robin. Based off of the basionym is has also been named Alocasia virginica (L.) Raf., Caladium virginicum (L.) Hook., Calla virginica (L.) Michx., Lecontia virginica (L.) Torr., Rensselaeria virginica (L.) L.C. Beck. Other synonyms include: Peltandra luteospadix Fernald, Peltandra tharpii F.A. Barkley, and the basionym Arum virginicum L.. It is a hydrophytic marshland aquatic plant pollinated by a chloropid fly through providing a brood site and releasing the pollen onto them. The primary dispersal mechanisms are via water and animal.

Description
Peltandra virginica is a Marshland aquatic plant, growing in North America bogs, ponds, and marshes. The roots and base grow into the bed of the body of water, and the leaves and inflorescences project up and out of the water. The roots form a perennial rhizome. Various forms of leaf blades have been observed, both in larger ranges and smaller individual populations. Petioles range from green to green-purple to purple with a medium green blade petiole lengths between 38 and 98 centimeters and blade length being between 9 and 57 centimeters. Lateral veins also have variable thicknesses. Inflorescences are generally pale green to white, being lighter within the spathe. Lengths for the inflorescense range between 7 and 25 centimeters with the spadix being about half the size to the full length of the spathe with greenish to white flowers, producing fruits that rot within the closed spathe. Fruits are pea green to mottled green and purple and range from 6 to 16 millimeters. In most of its range, it blooms from spring to late summer and fall and in warmer regions, it will bloom into the winter. It generally thrives in low saline environments.

Taxonomy
In the eastern United States and Canada where Peltandra virginica resides, one other Peltandra species exists, P. sagittifolia. P. virginica can be distinguished from the other extant taxon of Peltandra by the variation in leaf form, average greater size in non-reproductive structures, and the difference in color of the fruit. The fruit of P. sagittifolia is red with a white spathe, and the fruit of P. virginica are green to purple with a green to yellow green spathe. According to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, P. virginica hails from the Araceae family in the Alismatales, containing inflorescences' known from the order.

Distribution and Habitat
Peltandra virginica is a native aquatic plant to North America, its range spans the entire eastern Coast of the United States and goes as far west as Texas. It is also naturalized in areas of California up to Oregon and is present in eastern regions of Canada. It mostly inhabits the wetlands and swamps, including marshes and bogs.

Conservation
Based on the Red List of Threatened Species 2016, P. virginica is a taxon of Least Concern, this is because of its range in eastern and central North America. In some areas within the range of P. virginica the populations are diminishing and range borders retreating. It has also been found in the Western United States namely in California. With the largest part of the range listing it as a Least Concern, in Iowa it is listed as Endangered.

Etymology
The generic name derives from the Greek words for shield, pelte, and for man, andos or aner, making Peltandra. This generic name was published by Rafinesque in 1819, and the specific epithet by Linnaeus in the synonym Arum virginicum in 1753 and then later assigned to Peltandra by Schott in 1832. Thus creating the name Peltandra virginica.

Pollination Biology

In the pistillate stage of P. virginica the spadix is entirely covered by the spathe, not allowing insects to pollinate them. Pollination is achieved by the plant utilizing brood-site-based pollination, the frit fly, Elachiptera formosa Loew, forms a symbiotic relationship with the inflorescence. The flies are attracted to the odor of the flowers in the staminate stage where they feed on pollen and mate then find oviposition sites, flowed by the development of the larvae and maturity of the flies.

Ethnobotany
Historical accounts suggest that Native Americans may have used Peltandra virginica as a food source. It is mentioned that they may have eaten the seeds and fruits as well as leaves and roots. The section of P. virginica 's range from Pennsylvania to coastal Virginia, where its populations are higher are where they were most utilized for food. Other times it has been used as an ornamental plant or used to stabilize sediments in beds of small bodies of water.

Wildlife
Peltandra virginica is considered a low percentage of various animals food sources. According to Yarrow in Managing wildlife, it makes up 5-10% of the diet of small mammals that reside within its range and makes up 10-25% of the diet of water birds that share its range. According to Martin in American wildlife and plants: A guide to wildlife food habitats, it makes up 5-10% of the diet of water birds that share its range.

Toxicity
The non-reproductive structures of Peltandra virginica are known to contain Calcium Oxalate crystals, that can irritate the gastrointestinal system of animals and people and has been linked to build up of stones in the kidneys.