[3] The 1913 botanical illustration of this bladderwort species depicts a delicate 2 to 12-inch stem growing along or just below the surface in very shallow water on a slender root or basal system; leaves are tiny or absent, often buried in the sand or mud; the showy blue to purple flower blooms from August to September with a two-lipped petal held up by a thin stem, the upper lips facing upwards and the three-lobed lower lip having a projection or sac extending from the petal base; fruit forms in a two-valved sac holding small seeds, on a separate stem emerging from a bract just above the base of the plant, as if its stem is sitting on a couch or in a flower pot, the fruit being dry and splitting open when ripe; and bladderwort reproduces both sexually by seed and asexually by producing compact buds or turions which break free from the parent plant and spread out nearby to start new plants.
[6] Utricularia resupinata grows on the edges of wetlands or along the shore or in the shallow water of ponds, lakes, or rivers.
Ideal growing conditions consist of a sandy substrate covered over by a thin layer of mud or muck.
In its northern range it appears to only flower when low water levels occur at the same time as higher than average temperatures exist.
[2] The specimen of Utricularia resupinata depicted below was collected by George R. Cooley, R. J. Easton, Carroll E. Wood, Jr., and C. Earle Smith, Jr. in May, 1961 on the shore of Lake Tsala Apopka, Florida, in a half inch of water.
[8] Professor Asa Gray published the first of eight editions of his Manual of Botany in 1848, with a limited range noted for collected specimens of Utricularia resupinata, "at sandy margins of ponds, East Maine to Rhode Island.
[11]Since Tweedy's finds deep in the Adirondack Mountains, Utricularia resupinata has been found in Canada, the eastern US as far as the Great Lakes states, and in Central America.
Within this last group or genus of 240 species we find Utricularia resupinata, with its "synonyms" or taxon of plants that experienced a name change.
"[20] One of the early students of Utricularia resupinata and its carnivorous family (Lentibulariaceae) was Mary Treat (1830-1923), a naturalist who made major contributions in botany and entomology.
Mary Treat was "one of the first scientists to suspect that the bladders were actually traps for tiny creatures rather than air floatation devices.
Their entrance is easy enough; there is a sensitive valve at the mouth of the bladder, which, if they touch it, flies open and draws them in as quick as a flash.
[22]: 62–63 Mary also held a five-year correspondence with biologist Charles Darwin as he was researching carnivorous plants, debating the question of how insects entered these bladders, finally convincing him of her theory.
She recounted this in the same chapter, and it is worth quoting at length for this back story from the early history of botany: Those who have read Mr. Darwin's very interesting book on Insectivorous Plants, will have noticed that he says the valve of Utricularia is not in the least sensitive, and that the little creatures force their way into the bladders -- their heads acting like a wedge.
The two species in this section are small subaquatic carnivorous plants that are distinguished by the unique bracts, which are basifixed and tubular.
"[23] Botanist Norman Taylor (1900-1975) in association with the NYBG published Flora in the Vicinity of New York in 1915, reporting on Barnhart's new category (and name) for Utricularia resupinata.
But one mystery baffled her: "I soon became satisfied that the valve was very sensitive when touched at the right point, but to this day I cannot tell what the power is that so quickly draws the creatures within.
"[5]: 640 Czech Republic botanist Lubomir Adamec has summarized the extensive research that has recently been done with species in the Utricularia genus – with a focus on its carnivorous bladder.
[26] Second, not all of the minute animals sucked into the Utricularia traps are digested, because it has been found that some of the organisms in this "bladder soup" actually assist in prey decomposition, a process similar to what happens in an efficient septic system.
"[5] Lubomir Adamec's research summary while technical, invites the reader to draw on a knowledge of all the physical and life sciences.
[5] An intricate collection of valves inside the bladder help govern this complex organ—inviting the reader to appreciate its mechanics, the pumping of water in and out at high speed and pressure; its electro-chemistry, transferring enough voltage when triggered to perpetuate the process; and learning of the symbiosis of minute animal species inside this botanical bladder, either facilitating or becoming food for digestion.
There are substantial concerns over the conservation status of Utricularia resupinata throughout its geographical distribution, with the following list offered by the US Department of Agriculture's source on "Threatened and Endangered Information:" "Of Special Concern" are Rhode Island and Tennessee; listed as "Threatened" are Massachusetts and Vermont; "Endangered" include Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, and New Jersey; and labeled as "Extirpated" are Indiana and Pennsylvania, with a recent discovery of a species community in the former.
[28] A conservation plan is needed for the protection and proliferation of this delicate but important species which so fascinated Frank Tweedy, Mary Treat, Charles Darwin, and generations of botanists and biologists.