Nelumbo lutea Willd.

American lotus

Slow moving water of large lakes.

Forb/herb

Perennial

Vascular

10

Nelumbo lutea was long considered native in New York State (Torrey 1843, Paine 1865, Mitchell and Beal 1979, Mitchell 1986). Early New York reports (Torrey 1843, Paine 1865) talk about a population around Sodus Bay, Wayne County being the only known population in New York. House (1917) presents a photo of this population taken in 1916. This species was later considered to be non-native in New York State (Mitchell and Tucker 1997) with the Sodus Bay population "likely planted". Since this species was allegedly cultivated by Native American’s in the southeastern United States and dispersed by them to the northeast (Tricker 1916) it is possible that the Sodus Bay population is indeed a planted population. House (1918) stated that, "The local distribution in the north may be due to introduction" by Native Americans. Still, there is no documentation of this. Other populations in New York are known to be naturalized from cultivation, such as at Cayuga Lake (Wiegand and Eames 1926). We consider the Sodus Bay population to be of possible native origin and other populations to be non-native in origin. Overall, it is a very rare species in New York. The Sodus Bay population is now considered extirpated. The naturalized population in Cayuga Lake is persisting.

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Not Native OBL (NWPL) OBL (NWPL EMP) OBL (NWPL NCNE) SNR (State Rank) G4 (Global Rank)

Mitchell and Beal 1979, Wiersema 1997b