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Utricularia purpurea
Also called Purple Bladderwort, Greater Purple Bladderwort, Spotted Bladderwort
Eastern purple bladderwort is a floating aquatic carnivorous plant with small bladder traps, grown in wet or waterlogged conditions such as ponds and bog pools. It is kept mainly as a pond or aquarium plant and needs constant water.
Utricularia purpurea, the eastern purple bladderwort, is a medium-sized suspended aquatic carnivorous plant that belongs to the genus Utricularia. U. purpurea is endemic to North and Central America. It has been suggested that U. purpurea may have partially lost its appetite for carnivory. Richards (2001) did an extensive study in the field on it and noted that trapping rates of the usual Utricularia prey were significantly lower than in other species in the genus. Richards concludes that this species can still trap and digest arthropod prey in its specialized bladder traps, but does so sparingly. Instead, it harbors a community of algae, zooplankton, and debris in the bladders that indicates U. purpurea favors a mutualistic interaction in place of a predator–prey relationship.
U. purpurea has leaves that are whorled or alternately arranged.
Utricularia adpressa · Utricularia albiflora · Utricularia albocaerulea · Utricularia alpina · Utricularia ameliae · Florida purple bladderwort · Utricularia andongensis · Utricularia antennifera · Utricularia appendiculata · Utricularia arcuata · Utricularia arenaria · Utricularia arnhemica
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Utricularia purpurea 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.
