Blowing my Own Trumpet

This post is about me exposing myself as a supreme plant nerd, if you weren't already aware of that aspect of my being! My Mum would have chastised me for blowing my own trumpet, but here goes anyway ...

I've been finding some unusual growth forms/structures on bladderworts in my lake on and off since 2022, and hadn't been able to find an expert who was aware of exactly what they were.

These structures that have my head whirling are the flimsy white filaments floating off to the side of the leaves in this next pic (Utricularia macrorhiza, or common bladderwort). They're not roots, which was my initial impression - this is a rootless, free floating plant!

Filamentous shoots on Utricularia macrorhiza

These outgrowths are fascinating, yet no one else in my realm of lake experience had seen them before.

Filamentous shoots on Utricularia inflata

I wrote an exploratory field note about the filaments I observed in Utricularia inflata (swollen bladderwort) in the Maine Natural History Observer (Tuberous Structures in Utricularia Inflata page 44) last year, but it was only this month, with the help of Laurie Callahan of the York County Invasive Aquatic Species Project (YCIASP), that my more recent query about these structures in Utricularia macrorhiza landed in the hands of Dr. Garrett Crow, one of the co-authors of our aquatic 'bible.' Lo and behold, traction at last!

He not only informed me that they were most likely air shoots, but he also wrote ... wait for it ...  "Thank you, thank you, thank you Debbie. These are wonderful. You are expanding my understanding of Utricularia!! He thanked me for teaching him about bladderworts! What? Moi? Very, very gratifying (and terribly exciting) that he will be including my new information in volume 6 of the updated "Flora of North America." Is that a thrill or what???? 

Since then, I've been encouraged enough to spend hours and days, poring over the tips of air shoots for the best possible perspective. For the ultimate understanding. For the thrill of the chase. I've prepared one set of herbarium sheets, and today embarked on more. It's been so exciting talking botanic curiosities with other people interested in such geeky things! It inspires me to keep questioning.

The air shoots have interesting bract- or scale-like appendages near their tips, if you look very carefully. What are they for? What will they become?

I can't stop looking at bladderworts right now, to try and figure out why ... what triggers them to send out these aerial shoots? They occur in some coves and not others, and in some species but not others. In some months but not others. So much to puzzle over and solve - my brain is going into overdrive as I try to puzzle things out!