New Sundew

So excited to have found the Spatulate-leaved sundew (Drosera intermedia) on our lake recently. I had only noticed the Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundiflora) around our wetlands till now, and was ecstatic to find this one thriving here as well.

Both types are common in the Northeast, but as you can see, their leaf shapes are a little different. They are very slow growers in nutrient poor habitats.

The sticky glandular hairs keep insects trapped until the plant can envelop them.

Aquatic Bloom

This flower has the common name large purple bladderwort (Utricularia purpurea), but it's hard to capture the color in bold sunlight - it seems to sap the color from the petals.

The messy-looking mass of brown vegetation floating beneath the flower are its leaves, stems and bladders 

The plant puts up a long flower stalk that can rise above the water

or often lies along the surface like a long piece of string.

AAA

AAA today stands for Amazingly Abundant Agalinis! The delicate flowers are strongly pink.

They're annuals - I have never seen them so prolific and dramatic as they are this year. How wonderfully cheery they look by the water's edge!

They are a false foxglove native to eastern North America and Canada.

Perfection

This exquisitely delicate and unique flower belongs to our native little floating bladderwort (Utricularia radiata). The white spokes that hold up the flower are regarded as specialized "leaves," and may also be referred to as stolons. There is a second flower forming beside the mature one - they first appear completely underwater, and slowly rise to the surface as the floats become more air-filled and buoyant.

This is how it appears in its habitat. The spatterdock leaves around it give some idea of scale and how small this plant is. The little spots you see around the base and floating in the water beneath it are the traps/bladders that catch zooplankton in the water - a magnificent carnivorous aquatic plant.

 I LOVE this plant - ingenious!