Azolla caroliniana Willd. CAROLINA AZOLLA. Burnt-ship Bay, at the foot
of Grand Island [= Buckhorn Island State Park], 1864: G. W. C. [George W.
Clinton] (Regent 1865 p. 203). "Rare ... Niagara Falls, Dr. F. W. Robbins," Day (1882).
"At a sawmill half a mile above the village. Niagara. Dr. Robbins.: Day,
Cat. of Niag. Fl. The specimens collected by Dr. J. W. Robbins near Niagara
Falls are in the Gen. Herb. No other specimens have been seen, although the
species has been reported in recent years from Two Mile Creek, Niagara Co., by
F. W. Johnson," Zenkert 1934.
New York: Niagara River and
Falls, J. W. Robbins (BUF); Burntship Bay. [Buckhorn Island] 1863 or 4 [sic]
(BUF).
When John Paine Jr. published his Catalogue
of the plants found in Oneida County and Vicinity (18th Annual Report of the
Regents, Senate Document no. 90, 1865, he described the habitat and
distribution of this species as follows (p. 181): "Stagnant water and miry
banks. In all the side-waters of Lake Ontario [in New York State], from the marshes
five miles northeast of Oswego, to Braddock's bay, Monroe county: often
completely covering the water with a purple velvet mantle. Common near the
shore, but not observed at any distance from the Lake. August."
Range: swOnt. Ontario: Hamilton. Status: Rare
and possibly extirpated in Canada. Rare in Indiana. Protection: Protected by
law in New York, Argus & White (1977). Listed as rare and protected by New
York State law, and probably extirpated from the flora according to Zander and
Pierce (1979).