| Author | (Austin) Daubs | |
| Distribution | This species is considered by Weakley (2022) be limited to the Coastal Plain in NC, apparently mostly in, or limited to, the lower portions, based on the map below. Website editors have mapped only those specimens that were annotated by experts.
Ranges from NY to SD and south to FL and TX according to the BONAP map. | |
| Abundance | Weakley (2022) indicates the species is "uncommon" in the NC Coastal Plain, thus confirming that the website map is quite incomplete. In Fall 2022, the NCNHP has started to track this species, as Significantly Rare. Its new State Rank of SH (Historical) seems based strictly on last collection date, and the website editors feel that -- owing to records from at least four counties as so few people are collecting duckweeds nowadays -- it should not be considered as historical. The editors suggest a State Rank of S2? and Watch List. | |
| Habitat | Weakley (2022) says the habitats are "Still to slowly moving waters of ponds, lakes, beaver ponds, and swamps". The habitats on the NC specimen labels are "pond", "pool", "swamp", and "ditch". |
| Phenology | Presumably flowers seldom, and if so, from June to September. | |
| Identification | Lemna species are tiny floating plants with flattened leaf-like stems (fronds) that produce roots under the stem (i.e., under the water surface). These species have just one root per frond. This species has 3-5 nerves on a frond. For further separation characters, see the key in Weakley (2018). Unlike most other Lemna species, this one has the fronds often reddish on the lower surface, and occasionally on the upper surface. L. turionifera also is reddish on the underside of the frond. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | This is a fairly recent split from L. minor. The records in the SERNEC database had originally been named as L. perpusilla, as RAB (1968) stated that no records of L. minor were known at that time from NC, with all likely being L. perpusilla.
The range maps for this and other duckweeds (Lemna spp.) are likely to be very incomplete, owing to recent changes in nomenclature; not to mention being in a group of plants often overlooked or not often collected by biologists because of their tiny size and aquatic/floating habits. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | SH [S2?] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | SR-O [W7] | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
