Since 1980, U. inflata has been reported to exist in locations beyond its traditional range, such as the Adirondack Mountains in New York, southeastern Massachusetts, and in Washington State.

to a location where it naturalizes can lead to altered sediment chemistry by reducing the net primary productivity of native species.

The filiform stolons are the main vegetative "stem" of the plant and can be up to one meter long or longer but are only 1–2 mm thick.

Occasionally the stolons will produce floating air shoots at the water's surface and tuber-like organs in the substrate.

Peter Taylor's 1989 taxonomic monograph listed the following states where native populations of this species have been located: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

[3] U. inflata inhabits aquatic environments such as lakes, ditches, and swamps from shallow to deep waters at low altitudes.

[9] In southeastern Massachusetts, several samples of U. inflata have been gathered from Federal Pond beginning in 1990, representing its first collection north of New Jersey on the east coast.

The authors of this study also noted that at one of these sites, many of the native species declined in frequency or could not be found, possibly due to the presence and proliferation of U. inflata.

Lab experiments and observations in the field supported the authors' hypothesis that the presence of U. inflata in Adirondack lake systems damages the natural nutrient cycles that sustain the native flora.

U. inflata likely shades out the native flora, specifically Eriocaulon aquaticum, a submersed macrophyte isoetid that releases oxygen into the sediment.

In this case, U. inflata could indirectly change the biogeochemical cycle in the Adirondack lakes by hindering the growth of native isoetid macrophytes and subsequently having a negative effect on the proper balance of sediment chemistry.

[6] Even earlier than the collections in Massachusetts and New York, a population of U. inflata was located in Horseshoe Lake in Kitsap County, Washington in 1980.

Since then, further specimens of U. inflata have been recorded from other Puget Sound area lakes in Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, and Thurston counties.

"[5] Washington's Department of Ecology also indicates that in the areas where it occurs, U. inflata forms dense floating mats, becoming a nuisance for recreational activities.

Barry Rice, author of Growing Carnivorous Plants, says that this species is the easiest suspended aquatic Utricularia that he has grown.

[16] Rice also mentions that U. inflata has been used as an aid in the cultivation of particularly difficult species, such as Aldrovanda vesiculosa, that are much more sensitive to high nutrient concentrations.