Utricularia

[fredg]

Utricularia are not garden plants(normally) so I'll stick them here. 

This Utricularia calycifida has been flowering for a couple of months. It's a carnivorous plant but you'll not see this. The terrestrials have their traps in the medium out of sight.

[brianw]

I grow a tiny flowered thing; U. bisquamata I think (frost free), and U. alpina (indoors). The latter is not hardy, it comes from sub-tropical highlands, so I grow it in an aquarium with some mexican Pinguiculas.
In another existence I used this artificially lit aquarium to suggest an empty house was occupied at weekends when I was not there. This means the plants have not been fed or repotted etc. for 20 years or so. Doesn't look pretty but flowers every year just on rain or distilled water.

[fredg]

I grow a tiny flowered thing; U. bisquamata I think (frost free...........

Your Utricularia bisquamata doesn't need to be frost free Brian, it's indestructible.
That little fellow will quickly run riot through a collection, it seeds everywhere. A better option is Utricularia bisquamata "Betty's Bay"[/b] which by comparison has gigantic flowers which are carried for much longer. In fact it always seems to me to be in danger of flowering itself to death. I've never had this geographical variety seed around.

1       Utricularia bisquamata very small flowers and a rampant seeder.
2 & 3 Utricularia bisquamata "Betty's Bay"
4       Foliage

[fredg]

Utricularia praelonga is a member of the Foliosa section of Utricularia.
A bit of an oddity in the following respect :-
 

Utricularia praelonga--This plant confounded me when I first grew it, because although it produced little obovate leaves, my pot of it was infested with a kind of grass that made long, erect leaves. I kept pulling these out until the day I realized that these were leaves of the same species! Yes, it makes two kinds of leaves! It is really hard to convince this plant to flower.

Now I grew this in an unheated greenhouse for quite a few years until the winter of 2010-11, at least that's what I thought until about an hour ago. I kept the old pot as it was covered with Drosera spatulata that had self seeded there and on checking the plants today I find there are two clumps of this plant still surviving. Not as delicate as thought  .
I don't have a problem flowering it, both the old specimen and the one I bought as a replacement have produced  flowers most years.

[Roma]

Fred, your postings of Utricularia have reminded me of one I saw in the greenhouses of Gothenburg Botanic Garden in May this year.  I thought at first it was an orchid till I saw the leaves.  I had previously only seen one of the tiny ones.

[fredg]

That is a beauty Roma, Utricularia reniformis is a member of the Orchidioides section and is a terrestrial from Brazil. It only occasionally is  found as an epiphyte so I grow it as a terrestrial as opposed to the Gothenburg Botanic Garden who prefer the epiphytic method.
This one I don't leave out in winter

[Paul T]

 

Wow!

Anyone in Australia grow it?  Anyone?  Absolutely amazing Utric.

[fredg]

Interesting Paul

Many people would give their right leg for this Australian native. http://www.sarracenia.com/photos/utricularia/utricmenzi002.jpg

[Paul T]

Fred,

I think from memory that is one of the Western Australian species isn't it?  I've rarely seen any Utricularias available here, but then I've never gone looking to buy seed either, which is probably where they'd most likely be found.  I've never grown Utrics from seed, but then I just grow an aquatic one at present out in my ponds.  I am blown away by the range of them I've seen here and elsewhere on the Net.  For the reniformis though, that's something special.  So very like an orchid.  Then again it probably needs a glasshouse or something like that rather than a house situation I would imagine?

[Paul T]

Oh dear, now you've done it.  I've just found a nursery a couple of hours north of here that sells carnivorous plants, particularly Nepenthes, but also many others including Utricularia reniformis.  This could get very bad if I'm not careful. 

Fred, this is all your fault.

 

[fredg]

I accept full responsibility Paul 

Check out any of the Utricularia Orchidioides section.
U. alpina is large flowered ( white with yellow eye) and one of the easiestof this section.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/3789074966_d054a82240.jpg

You may find this of interest.
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5656.html

[ashley]

Can anyone say whether this is Utricularia bifida or something else?
Locally abundant and flowering in July/August on the Mitchell Plateau, Kimberley, W Australia.
Sorry for the poor focus.

[fredg]

Ashley that's definitely abundant 

It looks right, it's in the right place and at the right time, that's as far as I go
http://aldrovanda.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/medium_640/sites/aldrovanda.com/files/story_images/fc20080827thailand3067_0.jpg
http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/7127

[ashley]

Thanks Fred.  I was astonished at the variety of predatory plants in NW Oz.