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Utricularia intermedia
Flatleaf Bladderwort
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Photographer: Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy
ID: 0000 0000 1018 1852 (2018-10-31)Copyright © 2018 Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy
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INFORMATION PROVIDED WITH THE PHOTO
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date of photo Aug 11, 2011
location
Cerknica lake (Notranjska, Slovenia)notes Slo.: srednja mešinka - Habitat: nutrients poor, shallow standing water of a ditch; flat terrain; sunny place; Dinaric phytogeographical region. - Substratum: soil, bottom of a shallow standing water. - Comment: Utricularia intermedia is simmilar to Utricularia minor. Only its flower stalks with yellow, bizarre looking flowers, resembling gluttonous mouth, rise above water surface. Long stolons and stalks with several times divided leaves having thin final segments live in water. The plant catches and digests small water animals like water fleas, nematodes, small fish fry and mosquito larvae with bladder-like traps situated on their leaves. Hundreds of these traps can be found on a single plant. Each bladder, which was initially thought to be a flotation device before its carnivorous nature was discovered, has a small mouth, 'trap door', surrounded by several branched protuberances looking like some kind of tentacles. - The functioning of these traps is ingenious – many agree the most sophisticated and simple at the same time carnivorous trapping mechanism to be found within plant kingdom. The bladder is a purely mechanical device without any sensory functions. The only active mechanism involved is the constant pumping of water out of the bladder through thin bladder's walls by cellular transportation mechanism. Since the mouth (trap door) is normally tightly closed, this pumping crates negative pressure within the bladder and squeezes it somewhat. The 'tentacles' are stiff and attached to the flexible mouth lip. If an animal touches these 'tentacles' they work simply as mechanical levers and deform the mouth lip a bit. The mouth loses its tightness and, because of the negative pressure inside the bladder, water instantly brakes into the bladder – together with the pray. This happens in about 10 ms only! The mouth closes and the pray is slowly digested by the plant. After the meal is finished the whole process starts again (Ref.: 4). Utricularia intermedia is widely distributed all over the world (except Antarctica). In Slovenia it is rare, highly endangered and protected by law as all other four species of this interesting genus present in the country. - Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroženih rastlinskih in živalskih vrst v rdeči seznam, Uradni list RS, št. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by 'V' representing a vulnerable species. - Ref.: (1) Personal communication Mr. Branko Dolinar, www.orhideje.si (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora für Österreich, Liechtenstein und Südtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 763. (3) A. Martinči et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnična Založba Slovenije (2007), p 583. (4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utricularia (accessed Oct.28. 2018) (5) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 300. (6) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 946.camera AmScope AM500 through stereo microscope
photo category: Plant - annual/perennial
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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PLANT
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| common names
Flatleaf Bladderwort (photographer)
View all photos in CalPhotos of Utricularia intermedia Check Google Images for Utricularia intermedia |
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The photographer's identification Utricularia intermedia has not been reviewed. Click here to review or comment on the identification. |
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Using this photo The thumbnail photo (128x192 pixels) on this page may be freely used for personal or academic purposes without prior permission under the Fair Use provisions of US copyright law as long as the photo is clearly credited with © 2018 Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy.
For other uses, or if you have questions, contact Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy amadej.trnkoczy[AT]siol.net. (Replace the [AT] with the @ symbol before sending an email.) |
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