Worse, when I use an Electrum client to access the node I observe that the client reports an erroneous number of blocks lagging (more blocks than actual).
Does a client restart fix this particular issue?
If so, maybe you're looking at
this issue instead.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Because I had previously experienced the problem that you linked, I had already tried a number of client restarts. They didn't help. At present my server is only 3 blocks behind (according to getinfo via SSH) and this is consistent with what my Electrum client reports. However, the unconfirmed transaction has been sitting for three hours (presumably due to the "test"). Blockchain.info has had the transaction for three hours, but my Electrum client still doesn't show it. (It will show it if I connect it to a different Electrum server, so I know that this is server related. After changing servers, I restarted the client and it reverted back to showing the transaction unconfirmed. I will have to wait until my server catches up and then I will see if it picks up the unconfirmed transaction.)
I believe it should be high priority for the Electrum system to show unconfirmed payments as rapidly as possible, so as to make for a Newbie friendly user experience.