Greater Bladderwort
Greater Bladderwort
Carnivorous Plant
A rootless plant that floats in ponds, its feathery stems studded with tiny suction traps that snap open in half a millisecond to catch water fleas — one of the fastest movements in the plant world.
💡 Fun Facts
- This rootless plant floats freely in ponds and ditches, its feathery underwater stems dotted with hundreds of tiny see-through 'bladders' no bigger than a pinhead.
- Each bladder is a trap: when a water flea brushes its trigger hairs, the bladder snaps open and sucks the creature inside in about half a thousandth of a second — one of the fastest movements known in the whole plant world.
- In summer it pushes bright yellow, snapdragon-like flowers up above the water on wiry stalks, the only part of the plant most people ever see.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:June to August
- Dormant:November to March
Name Story
Utricularia vulgaris
means “the common little-bladder plant”
What does its name mean?
- Utricularia — little bladder (wineskin)Latin utriculus ‘little bladder, little wineskin’
- vulgaris — commonLatin vulgaris ‘common, found everywhere’Decode this word →
Hidden underwater are hundreds of tiny bladders, each one a trap set like a spring. It snaps open and sucks in a passing water-creature in less than the blink of an eye.