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| Photo
by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below.** |
| Botanical name: |
Utricularia resupinata B.D. Greene ex Bigelow |
| Common
name: |
reversed bladderwort |
| Synonomy: |
Lecticula resupinata (B.D. Greene ex Bigelow) Barnhart |
| Group: |
dicot |
| Family: |
Lentibulariaceae |
| Growth
Type: |
forb/herb |
| Duration: |
annual
perennial |
| Origin: |
native |
| Plant
height: |
3/4"-4" |
| Foliage: |
leaves alternate, three part; no roots
Tiny
bladders originally thought to float the plant actually trap and digest
very small invertebrates, opening when trigger hairs are disturbed and
suddenly sucking in water and any invertebrates (i.e., they are
carnivorous). Digestion takes approxiamately 15 minutes to 2 hours. The
"bug soup" is then extracted into the stem, clearing out the bladder's
vaccuum and resetting the trigger hairs.
Mary Treat of Vineland, an early female scientist, did much research on Utricularia and
was one of the first scientists to suspect that the bladders were
actually traps for tiny creatures rather than air flotation devices. |
| Flower
color: |
pink to purple |
| Flower
size: |
1/4"-1/2" long, facing upward |
| Flowering/fruiting time |
July to August |
| Habitat: |
very shallow water or wet mud |
| Range
in
New Jersey: |
local in the southern part of the Pine Barrens |
| Heritage ranking if any: |
S1, E, LP, HL |
| Distribution: |
 |
| Misc.: |
Utriculara, Latin, "raft floated on bladders", resupinata, Latin, "bent back, reclined"
Preys on fairy shrimp, water fleas, copepods, scuds, paramecia, nematodes, and microscopic insect larvae.
Insect pollinated.
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Sources
**USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 2: 288. |
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