| Author | Kunth. | |
| Distribution | Reported in Weakley (2022) in the Mountains; no data presented. SERNEC lists a collection from coastal Currituck County in 1970, and one from Buncombe County in 2007. As Weakley (2022) does not include the Coastal Plain in his range map, the website editors have included only the Mountain specimen on the map, for now.
A very widespread species, across much or most of North America, even to Central and South America and in the Old World. However, its range across the U.S. is so spotty that states in East might not truly be within the natural range -- if such a "natural range" can even be defined! | |
| Abundance | Presumed to be very rare, and likely difficult to identify owing to the tiny size of members of this genus. Though Weakley (2022) shows every Southeastern state of occurrence with a "Natural" occurrence, it seems best to consider the species of Uncertain Provenance in NC. The NCNHP added it to the Watch List, but as W4 (perhaps not native), with a State Rank of SU (Undetermined). This is especially true based on the habitat for the Buncombe record -- "pig pond on farm". | |
| Habitat | "Quiet waters, seepages" (Weakley 2022). The habitat for the Currituck specimen, if correct, is "In pocosin pool"; the Buncombe is "pig pond on farm". | |
| Phenology | | |
| Identification | Weakley (2022) has this species close to L. valdiviana on his key: "Fronds 1-2× as long as wide; nerve indistinct to fairly prominent, reaching at most 2/3 of the distance from node to apex (nerve about as long as or shorter than the aerenchymatous portion of the frond); fruit 0.6-1.0 mm long" for L. minuta, versus "Fronds 1.3-3× as long as wide; nerve mostly prominent, reaching at least 3/4 of the distance from node to apex (nerve longer than the aerenchymatous portion of the frond); fruit 1.0-1.35 mm long" for L. valdiviana. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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 | SU | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | W4 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
