Once back home, I was on a mission to determine whether the Swollen bladderwort had begun flowering in the sheltered coves I found them in last year at this time. Of course, there were traces of the plant leaves everywhere, but I was on the lookout for the white inflated radial arms and yellow flower rising from the water's surface.
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| A piece of Utricularia inflata leaf floating atop a lilypad |
I was lucky to find what I was looking for before the scheduled water drawdown (beginning Oct 10) for dam repairs began to have an impact.
And bingo! I found my first solitary plant in flower on Oct 12 in the same cove as my original discovery - what a beauty!
Four days later I was lucky enough to find 2 more locations, that had groups of 5 and 3 flowering plants - woohoo, was I excited! They can be floating up against the edge plants, or floating alone in an expanse of water.
They really are quite striking and bold up close. While they are not regarded as native to the Northeast, these incredible carnivorous plants have been found thriving in northerly areas more and more. The discovery of this plant in our lake in 2021 is a newly discovered expansion, but it appears from the level of establishment and abundance in our water body, that it has been here for quite a long time, probably well over a decade.
This location is the first confirmed occurrence of Swollen bladderwort in Maine, so it's still quite a curiosity. Before I was able to host a viewing party this year, though, the lake drawdown caught up with us and precluded us reaching the shallow areas they flower in. I'm so glad I got these pictures when I did!
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