Utricularia purpurea

Utricularia purpurea
Photo was taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Scrophulariales
Family:	Lentibulariaceae
Genus:	Utricularia
Species:	U. purpurea
Binomial name
Utricularia purpurea Walter
Natural range of Utricularia purpurea from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: eastern purple bladderwort

Description

"Herbaceous aquatic or bog plants with bladders; stems submersed or subterranean, frequently capillary. Leaves alternate or whorled, rarely opposite, dissected or forked into filiform segments or linear when surficial. Scapes elongate, to 5 dm tall, 1-20 flowered; bract solitary at base of pedicel, bractlets paired with present, usually absent; pedicels 0.5-3 cm long. Calyx 2-lobed or lipped, upper lip entire or 2-lobed, lower lip usually 3-lobed, elevated inside as a palate and prolonged as a spur or sac. Capsules brown, globose; seeds usually numerous, brown or yellow." - Radford et al 1964

"Plant floating, branches whorled. Leaves whorled or opposite, segments frequently terminating in bladders. Scapes 5-9 cm tall, 1-3 flowered; bracts sessile, 1.5-3 mm long; pedicels spreading-ascending, 6-15 mm long. Calyx ca. 2.5 mm long, larger lobes ca. 2 mm long; corolla purple, 9-12 mm long, spur 3-5 mm long. Capsules 3-3.6 mm in diam.; seeds round, echinate or irregularly cristate, ca. 0.5 mm in diam." - Radford et al 1964

Ecology

Habitat

Utricularia purpurea can be found entirely under water and frequent with Utricularia foliosa and Nymphaea (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

Flowering has been observed April through November and fruiting April through September (FSU Herbarium).

Use by animals

carnivorous plant – bladderwort (Hermann 1995).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey, Richard S. Mitchell, Annette Mitchell, Robert Kral, Loran C. Anderson, P. L. Redfearn, Jr., W. P. Adams, Grady W. Reinert, John B. Nelson, Kathy Craddock Burks, Elmer C. Prichard, M. R. Vodicka, Ted Bradley, J Stevenson, R. M. Schuster, Harry E. Ahles, J. Haesloop, D. B. Ward, S. S. Ward, Jean W. Wooten, D E Harrison, F Henry, Joel A. Barnes, Wilson Baker, Ann Johnson, N. Hotchkiss, Cecil R Slaughter, Palmer Kinser, Joe Beck. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Calhoun, Collier, Franklin, Gulf, Hamilton, Highlands, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton. Georgia: Grady, Thomas, Ware. Michigan: Schoolcraft. Mississippi: Jackson. New Hampshire: Grafton. North Carolina: Brunswick. South Carolina: Orangeburg. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Hermann, S. M. (1995). Status and management of Florida's carnivorous plant communities. Tallahassee, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Nongame Wildlife Program.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 969. Print.