Utricularia biflora Lam.
bladderwort
Glabrous aquatic; stems floating, filiform, branched. Lvs numerous, submerged, capillary, to c. 1 cm long, usually entire but occasionally dichotomous. Bladders 1-1.5 mm long when mature, obliquely ovoid, numerous, situated on the lvs, shortly stalked; mouth with 2-3 long setae. Scape 3-20 cm long, slender, erect, 1-4-flowered; bracts c. 1 mm long, broad, membranous; pedicels to nearly 1.5 cm long, filiform. Calyx lobes 2.5-2.8 mm long, suborbicular. Corolla yellow; upper lip 7-10 mm long, ± suborbicular, narrower than lower lip, entire; lower lip 7-9 × 9-13 mm, entire, suborbicular, broader than long; palate pulvinate; spur 4-7 mm long, conic, with rounded apex. Filaments strongly curved, flattened. Ovary globose; stigma subsessile, with large, ± rounded lower lip. Capsule 2-3 mm diam., globose.
N.: Waitakere Stream and near Bethell's Beach (Waitakere Range, W. of Auckland), Taharoa and by the Mahoenui-Waitomo Road (Waikato).
E. and S. U.S.A. 1980
In slowly moving water.
FL Mar-Apr.
U. biflora has only recently been discovered in N.Z. but it appears to be spreading and may have been introduced originally as an aquarium plant. It is closely related to the Old World U. exoleta R. Br. and has often been confused with it elsewhere. It can easily be distinguished from the somewhat similar indigenous U. australis by the entire or nearly entire lvs.
