Utricularia vulgaris : Common Bladderwort

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Lentibulariaceae (Bladderwort Family)

Genera: Utricularia (Bladderwort) (Lat. utriclus = little bag or bottle; referring to the small bladders on the leaves)

Species: vulgaris (Lat. vulgaris= of the common people)

English Name(s):

Common Bladderwort,

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Nonrooting, aquatic, perennial, herbaceous (not woody) plants.
• Stems coarse, 1mm wide, with freely floating and flowering branches up to 1 meter in length.
• Bladders 1-5mm wide, borne on leaves.

Leaves:

• Leaves alternate, submerged, finely divided, pale green.
• 1-4 cm long.
• cylindrical in profile not flat.
• Margins terete serrulate (fine toothed).
• All leaves with numerous bladders.

Reproductive Parts:

• Scapes (flowering stalks) 8-25cm tall, 5-15 flowered.
• Corolla (united petals) yellow, 12-20mm long, with spur (point) shorted than lower lip.

Seed:

• Capsules on recurved pedicels (stalks).
• Seeds wrinkled and numerous.

Not to Be Confused With:

• Utricularia minor (Lesser Bladderwort) which is a generally smaller plant or Utricularia intermedia (Flat-leaved Bladderwort) which has its leaves and bladders on separate branches.

Physiology:

• Plants often reproduce by means of turions (buds) or winter buds.
• Turions or winter buds, which form at the tip of branches, drop off in autumn when the branch dies and fall to the bottom where they will sprout new plants the following spring.
• Bladders act as both floats and insect traps.
• Bladders are born on the branches will act as floats by filling with gas when the plant is ready to flower. Once bouyant the plant foats up from the bottom to the surface where its flowering stalk can rise out of the water.
• Bladders can retain enough water to keep the plant alive for a long period if the pond dries up.
• Bladders have appendages on the sides at their enterance. These appendages are triggered by prey swimming past. They cause the enterance to open sucking in water and the prey with it. Once prey are inside the entereance closes and digestive enzymes are released into the bladder.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial from over-wintering turions (plant buds) or winter buds.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Whole plant is deciduous (dieing back).

Animal Uses:

• Some bacteria may live in the bladders and help digest the prey in a symbiotic relationship.

Habitat:

• Shallow water of lakes, ponds and less commonly floating bogs.

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