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Common Bladderwort
Utricularia australis
タヌキモ
A carnivorous plant that floats in ponds and marshes. It extends filamentous organs with bladder traps into the water, lacking distinct roots and leaves, and captures small aquatic animals by suction. In summer, it raises yellow flower spikes above the water surface.
Identification Points
- ✓Green filamentous thalli without roots float submerged in water
- ✓Numerous small bladder-like traps along the leaf margins
- ✓Flowers are yellow and personate, borne in small spikes
Habitat
Submerged in ponds, marshes, rice paddies, and wetlands
Season
July–September (flowers)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Growth form
Herb
Habitat
Aquatic
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Petal fusion
Free
Stipules
Absent
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Flower symmetry
Zygomorphic
Ovary position
Superior
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Phylogenetic Positionタヌキモ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Lamiales > Lentibulariaceae
Divergence Era
Paleogene to Neogene
Evolution Notes
The bladder traps of Lentibulariaceae are among the most sophisticated prey-capture mechanisms in the plant kingdom. The valve of a negatively pressurized bladder opens upon trigger-hair stimulation, sucking in prey within 0.5 milliseconds.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification