  Two families of bipartite mixed quantum states are studied for which it is
proved that the number of members in the optimal-decomposition ensemble --- the
ensemble realizing the entanglement of formation --- is greater than the rank
of the mixed state. We find examples for which the number of states in this
optimal ensemble can be larger than the rank by an arbitrarily large factor. In
one case the proof relies on the fact that the partial transpose of the mixed
state has zero eigenvalues; in the other case the result arises from the
properties of product bases that are completable only by embedding in a larger
Hilbert space.
