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Lead Bladderwort

Utricularia livida

Also called Leaden Bladderwort

Lead Bladderwort
Photo: Michael Wolf, CC BY-SA 3.0

Lead bladderwort is a carnivorous perennial from boggy African and Mexican sites that traps microscopic prey in tiny underground bladders. It is grown for its pale lavender or white flowers and needs constantly damp conditions and full sun.

Family
Lentibulariaceae (Lentibulari family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the growing medium constantly wet, ideally standing in water or damp sand.
Soil
Damp sand or a very lean, wet mix; avoid rich fertilised compost.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect from frost, as it does not tolerate freezing.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Ethiopia to S. Africa, Madagascar, Mexico
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Utricularia livida is a species of flowering plant in the bladderwort family, Lentibulariaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name leaden bladderwort. It is native to central and southern Africa, and Mexico. Growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall and broad, it is a carnivorous perennial. It was originally described and published by Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer in 1837.

How to grow it

Like its relative, U. sandersonii, this plant is valued for its ornamental flowers and is grown as a houseplant. It does not tolerate freezing, so in temperate areas it must be cultivated under glass, in pans of damp sand in full sun. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Where it grows

Utricularia livida can be found in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It also has a widespread native range in Mexico. It grows as a terrestrial plant in boggy areas or shallow soils over rock at altitudes from near sea level to 2,830 m (9,285 ft).

Other Utricularia plants

Asian Golden Bladderwort · Bladderwort · Bladderwort · Florida yellow bladderwort · Flatleaf bladderwort · Southern bladderwort · Lesser bladderwort · Piedmont bladderwort · Utricularia pubescens · Pondo Bladderwort · Utricularia scandens · Fringed bladderwort

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Utricularia livida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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