243 



THE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF VASEY'S 

 PONDWEED IN NORTHEASTERN OHIO 



By L. S. Hopkins 



So far as a\ailable records show the first collection of this 

 interesting little pondweed — Potamogeton Vaseyi Robbins — 

 was made at Brady's Lake, Portage Co., by the writer on June 

 22, 1912, it being in flower at the time. 



The fact that the plant was new to me at the time of its col- 

 lection signified little since I had given no attention to the mem- 

 bers of this genus. Moreover it occurred in such abundance 

 that I never surmised that it had not been collected before and 

 it was not until later that I learned that this was the first authen- 

 tic account of its occurrence in the state. 



It has since been collected by Mr. John Bright of Glenshaw, 

 Pa. at the mouth of Cowles Creek, near Geneva-on-the-Lake in 

 Ashtabula Co. on July 28, 1918, and by myself in August, 1918, 

 and again in 1919 at Sandy Lake (also called Lake Stafford), 

 Portage Co. 



Although the Gray's New Manual, 1908, page 76, gives its 

 distribution as being from "Me. to Ont., s. to Ct., N. Y., O., 

 111., and Minn.," SchafTner does not include it in his "Ohio 

 Catalogue of Vascular Plants." 



Brief comment may be made upon two statements commonly 

 m^ade in connection with this plant. The first is found in Britton 

 and Brown's Illustrated Flora, 1913, page 83 to the effect that 

 "emersed fertile forms (occur) in shallow water." The other is 

 found in the Gray's New Manual, which states that the "fruiting 

 form with floating leaves (is) rare." 



With reference to local material as studied at the lakes men- 

 tioned, it seems worthy of note that it does not agree with the 

 manuals quoted in three essential particulars. 



I. Fruiting stems are not rare. On the contrary they are very 

 abundant. It is no exaggeration to say that enough fruiting 

 stems to fill an ordinary row boat could have been collected at 

 Sandy Lake in August, 1919. 



