Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Utricularia foliosa L.

leafy bladderwort

Aquatic herb with free-floating stems and 5-10 flowered raceme. The flower is yellow and the seeds are lenticular (Wiggins and Porter 1971)

Carnivorous plant, of ecological importance due to its interactions in the food chain with zooplankton and small macroinvertebrates (Críales-Hernández and Jerez-Guerrero, 2016).

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Plantae

Phylum
Magnoliophyta

Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)

Order
Scrophulariales

Family
Lentibulariaceae

Genus
Utricularia

Species
foliosa

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Utricularia guianensis Splitg. ex De Vries

Origin: Native

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: The native range of this species is Tropical & S. Africa, Madagascar, and Tropical & Subtropical America (POWO, 2023).

References

  • Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
  • Adsersen, H. (1989) The Rare Plants of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and their Conservation. Biol. Conservation 47(1): 49-77.
  • Jørgensen, P.M. León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999) Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, 1181 pp.
  • Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
  • Funk, V.T. Hollowell, T., Berry, P., Kelloff, C. & Alexander, S.N. (2007) Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 55: 1-584.
  • Hokche, O. Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (2008) Nuev. Cat. Fl. Vas. Venezuela 1–860.
  • Taylor, P. (1989) The genus Utricularia. A taxonomic monograph. Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 14: 1–724.
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
  • Críales-Hernández, M. Jerez-Guerrero, M. (2016) Primer registro de Utricularia foliosa L. (Lentibulariaceae) y su espectro alimentario para la Ciénaga de Paredes, Santander, Colombia Actualidades Biológicas 38 (104). https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.acbi.v38n104a05

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Utricularia foliosa", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=561. Accessed 9 July 2025.