Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Utricularia vulgaris

Other name

Common Bladderwort

Family

Lentibulariaceae

Flowering season

June to September

English distribution

It is thinly, scattered throughout the country but is most

common in the Fens, the Norfolk Broads and the Somerset Levels.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland

– Greater Bladderwort

Habitat

It is found in still or slow moving, nutrient-poor, calcarious,

streams, flooded peat cuttings and canals.

Description

Greater Bladderwort is a native, rootless, free-floating, perennial

insctivorous herb.

Flowers are bright yellow, up to 1.5cm across, and lifted

above the water on purple-brown scapes up to 20cm.

The flowers  are 2-lipped. The upper lip is oval and smaller.

The lower lip is spreading, swollen and pulled up, covering

the mouth of the corolla.

There is a forward-projecting conical spur up to 8mm long.

There are 2 stamens and a short stigms - not visible because

of the closed mouth.

The calyx is 2-lipped.

The fruit is a capsule.

The leaves are finely, pinnately divided and fan out. They have

small bladders, which trap tiny animals that are digested as a

nutrient source. There are some excellent pictures of the leaves

and bladders by Barry Rice on the National Biodiversity Network

Atlas.

The stems are free-floating and extend up to 1m. They die off in 

the autumn and the plant overwinters as a turion or rootless bud.

Greather Bladderwort does not always flower. It prefers warmer

temperatures and so this year, 2018, has been ideal.

The picture of the swans is included to show that the flowers

are quite small. This is not always obvious from close-ups of

the flowers.