Floating Bladderwort

Member of Bladderwort Family

Blooms: March - July

This is a strange looking little plant. It is a free-floating, carnivorous aquatic

perennial. It's branches somewhat inflated and floating, whorled at tip of stem like spokes of a wagon wheel, divided at tips into numerous threadlike segments. The yellow flower is on about 5/8" across.

The small bladders along the threadlike leaves are equipped with sensitive hairs around the opening, and when microscopic organisms touch these "trigger" hairs, the bladder opens, sucking the prey inside. The plant then secretes certain enzymes which dissolve the organism into nutrients used by the plant. How strange it that? Click for a closer look at this one.