Utricularia gibba Care Guide
Utricularia gibba, the humped bladderwort, is a free-floating carnivorous plant with bladder traps that catches microorganisms and forms tangled mats with yellow flowers.
Overview
Utricularia gibba, the humped bladderwort, is an aquatic carnivorous plant that either roots in shallow substrate or floats freely. It forms mats of criss-crossing, branching, thread-like stolons, each reaching about 20 cm or longer. Ovoid bladder traps along the leaf-like structures vacuum in microscopic prey.
Taxonomy
- Family: Lentibulariaceae
- Genus: Utricularia
- Scientific name: Utricularia gibba
- Common name: humped bladderwort
Habitat
Native to eastern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Mediterranean regions, southern Africa and southern India, and introduced (invasive) in several other countries. It grows in ponds, lakes and shallow water in ditches, pools, bogs, swamps and marshes, in waters poor in phosphorus and nitrogen.
Tank requirements
- Temperature: 18-28 °C (64-82 °F)
- pH: 5.5-7.5
- GH: 1-10 °dGH
- Lighting: medium
- CO2: not required
- Placement: floating
- Growth: fast
Cultivation
It is undemanding and grows fast, tolerating soft to moderately hard water and medium light. The plant can grow emersed and, under favourable conditions, produces yellow flowers above the water year-round. Because it is fast-spreading and invasive in some regions, it should be contained and never released into natural waterways.
Notable features
Its genome is exceptionally compact, about 82 megabases with only around 3% repetitive DNA, which makes it of interest in plant genome research.