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Field notes of Frederick W. Schueler ==== 26 September 2000
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Canada: British Columbia: Hwy 5, 1.1 km SSW Little Fort -WAYPT/110. 92P/8, UTM 10U 693904 5699461 51.41501N 120.21280W . TIME: 1054-1104. AIR TEMP: 12C, sunny, calm. HABITAT: roadside North.Thompson River oxbow, clear water, no flow, floating logs, grassy Poplar woods. OBSERVER: Frederick W., Aleta Karstad, & Jennifer H. Schueler. 2000/227/a, Azolla mexicana (Mexican Mosquito Fern). dominant herb, in fruit, specimen, photo. Rusty-velvety cover on surface, stranded by falling level. 10 AKS photos. This was a dense growth all over the surface, and stranded as high as 35 cm above the present water surface by falling water levels. The upper level of this stranded material was dead, but the lower 25 cm remained alive. The water is clear and there are lots of floating logs. The other arm of what appears to be a hairpin oxbow has no Azolla in it, but rusty algae and mixed submerged/emergent aquatic vascular plants. The odor of the Azolla is like that of cooked Beet skins, and slightly resinous. JHS recalls seeing a similarly coated pond just N of Barrieire, but the exingincies of sheduling mean we must zoom on rather than going back to check it out.

"11:06 Azolla mexicana!!! East of the highway (5) In an Oxbow of the Thompson River, just south of Little Fort. Waypoint #110, 51.41553 N, 120.21167 W (read off the GPS, not from the waypoint). The water level has recently fallen over a foot, with Azolla coating bank, logs, rocks and bushes with velvety red-brown. The water surface is covered with a >1 cm thick layer, with some curved drift-line marks in mid-stream. Only in a couple of places does the water itself sparkle through. I photographed the site, with a shot of Fred collecting a sample, and also a close-up of some in a container. The little, closely overlapping, braided-looking leaves have a water repellent, velvety finish, and there are many megaspores of green and red." AKS
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