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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE BLADDERWORT FAMILY | |||||||||
| The bladderworts are common in wetlands and moist forests. These plants are annual or perennial herbs that capture insects with sticky glands on the leaves. The insects are digested by the plant in order to obtain nutrients, like nitrogen, which are not readily available in their environment. The leaves can be clustered in a basal rosette or alternate on the stem. The flowers are either solitary or in an unbranched cluster. There are four or five sepals fused together into two lips and five petals, also fused into two lips. The petals have a spur at the base. There are two fertile stamens and occasionally two non-functional stamens in each flower. The fruit is a capsule. | |||||||||
| HORNED BLADDERWORT | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Utricularia cornuta | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Horned bladderwort grows as tall as 25 cm in shallow water. The leaves are simple or slightly forking with linear segments. The bladders on the leaves are very small. There are one to three flowers at the ends of the stem. Each flower has one larger bract and two smaller bractlets. The flowers are irregular in shape. The sepals are 2-lipped, with the upper lip being broader than the lower lip. The petals are yellow and have a spur. There are two stamens inserted near the base of the petals. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Horned bladderwort grows on marshy lake shores and in bogs. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in northern Saskatchewan in the Athabasca Plain and Churchill River Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Horned bladderwort is threatened because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan. Its occurrence is regionally restricted and population sizes vary. No threats are known or anticipated at this time. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY HORNED BLADDERWORT | |||||||||
| * Are the flowers yellow and with a spur? * Are the plants aquatic? * Do the leaves have tiny bladders? * Did you find it in northern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found horned bladderwort! | |||||||||
