How the bladderwort catches its victims?

Early in the summers pretty little bunches of golden yellow flowers about a centimeter across appear floating on the water of ponds and ditches. This is the bladderwort, or Utricularia, a planet that keeps most of its body under water and looks very innocent. However underneath its leaves the Utricularia has lots of little bladders which turn into deadly traps should any unwary insect go too near them.

These bladders have a small opening surrounded by short hairs. When an insect explores the opening the plant swallows the insect and closes the opening with a special little lid. The plant then digests the captured animal through millions of microscopic tubes in its tissue.

This plant grows all over the world, on land as well as on the water, but the bulk of the species are found in tropical regions and only about four occur in Europe.

 

Picture Credit : Google