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| Utricularia resupinata |
So far, the rarest carnivorous plant that I've found in the wild is Utricularia resupinata. Commonly known as the "Lavender Bladderwort," it is exceedingly uncommon. It is even less common to find it in flower. In the environment
we found it in, it inhabited the sandy bottom of a shallow pond.
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| Utricularia purpurea |
Nearby were Utricularia purpurea and several other species. This was the first time that I had found Utricularia purpurea in flower, and I was thrilled! When I lived in Florida, I had been on the lookout for that species, but, invariably, I always found Utricularia inflata and Utricularia radiata in flower instead.
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| Utricularia purpurea |
I was very happy to find this species as I am very fond of purple (and blue) flowered Utrics. It was thrilling to be able to find this in the wild in flower.
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| Utricularia geminiscapa |
When not in flower, Utricularia don't look like a whole lot. Still, you can see here how some free-floating aquatic ones present in the wild. In my own pond, I find that many species look strikingly similar. (Edit: Species identified).
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| Utricularia intermedia |
Other Utricularia are affixed aquatics. These are often confused for weeds and their bladders are often not as obvious as with free-floating aquatics. Quite honestly, my favorite part of Utricularia are the flowers and I enjoy seeing those much more than the plants themselves.
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| Utricularia geminiscapa |
Even as late in the season as we were, we were able to see quite a few flowers throughout the area. These were mostly in ones and twos, but occasionally, there would be more.
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| Utricularia cornuta |
What really struck me was the abundance of Utricularia cornuta. I hadn't realized that this species was so prevalent in New England. (A few years ago, I
mistakenly labeled it "Utricularia subulata" when, in fact, it was Utricularia cornuta).
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| Utricularia resupinata |
The best part of the visit, by far, was the Utricularia resupinata. U. resupinata is a late bloomer for New England. It typically flowers in late August. We were lucky to be able to see flowers as early as we were there. (In contrast, most other plants in New England have finished flowering by late August and many are already entering dormancy).
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| Utricularia resupinata |
The flower stalks themselves are quite tall, more than a foot in some cases, and a single flower typically tops each stalk. From the perspective of a land dweller, the flower stalks appear to rise from the murky bottom of the pond. In reality, they rise from a mass of stolons which carpet the bottom of the pond (although these are often covered by soil themselves).
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| A Non-Carnivorous Flower - Sagittaria species |
Other plants have similar flower stalks and can be easily confused for U. resupinata. Those non-carnivorous plants, however, typically have stalks that rise well above the water, whereas U. resupinata's flowers often rest just on the water's surface.
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| Utricularia resupinata |
As tiny as they are, the flowers of Utricularia resupinata can still serve as resting places for tiny bugs, such as the aphid you can see above. They are quite wonderful little flowers. (And the nice thing about this flower is that you can see what an aphid for scale would be).
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| Utricularia resupinata covered by aphids |
Oddly, all the water-blooming plants were aphid magnets, even these carnivorous plants. This flower was simply coated in aphids. Many other carnivorous and non-carnivorous water dwelling plants were coated by aphids as well. I'm not sure how they got there or what their attraction was, but it was clear that these were some of the aphids' favorite plants.
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| Utricularia resupinata |
We also saw a number of small flies visit the Utricularia resupinata flowers. These were so small they were hard to distinguish. Given their size and their apparent attraction to Utricularia resupinata, I wonder if they are a pollinator of this species?
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| Utricularia resupinata |
It was fantastic to see this species in the wild, and I hope to see it again sometime. It was a very neat experience.
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