The floating bladderwort (Utricularia inflata Walter) is a member of the Lentibulariaceae, a family of carnivores that includes the butterworts (Pinguicula) and Genlisea. Bladderworts (200+ species) and butterworts (77 species) are found worldwide, Genlisea (20 species) are native to Africa and South America. These carnivores are closely allied to the Scrophulariaceae, the snapdragon family, which contains a large number of parasitic species. (A Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1994)

The floating bladderwort is native to the eastern Atlantic states from New York and Massachusetts to Florida and westward from Tennessee to eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. It is easily identified by the inflated branches that support the inflorescence. The inflorescence may bear up to 20 yellow flowers. (Utricularia radiata also has spoked supports, but it is a smaller plant with fewer (1 to 6) flowers.) Utricularia flowers have a mechanism, a closing stigmatic lobe that prevents self-pollination. Tiny seeds are borne inside a capsule. The seeds are small enough that a strong wind will disperse them to new locations.

The floating bladderwort is anchored in the mud at the bottom of shallow water. Alternate branches along the stem are finely divided and bear the minute traps. (See Renfield's Garden, August 14, 2002) The floating bladderwort appears when weather conditions inundate its habitat. But when the ditches, ponds, and marshes dry, the plant becomes stranded on muddy soils.

Stranding triggers a second type of growth--vegetative reproduction. From the finely divided branches, long thin "threads" appear. The tip of each thread-like branch produces a tuber. These tubers remain dormant until rain fills their habitat. The tubers allow the plant to survive drought and colonize a suitable location. ("Spin-The-Wheel-Bladderworts", Kathy Craddock Burks, Florida Department of Environmental Protection)

The photographed floating bladderworts were in a roadside ditch. They may well have originated with a single seed that landed in the ditch. The tubers would have colonized the ditch within a year or two.