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Utricularia sp. hermanus - leaf traps?


GRB

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Hi Folks,

I wanted to ask if anyone else has noticed traps arising from the leaves in U. sp. "Hermanus"? I noticed a small row of traps in the middle of the leaves the other day. At first I thought some small stalked "animacules" (e.g like a big Stentor) had taken up residence, but under the microscope they appear to be traps.

I don't think I've ever seen this on any other species of Utricularia (I'm no expert though). Is this something found in other species? Is it a character that defines U. sp."Hermanus"?

I tried a quick google but didn't have much luck finding other examples (the only one close I could fine was be U.graminifolia, but these seem to be coming off leaf+stolon extensions of the plant, rather than directly from the leaves).

I'll try to get a photograph later. 

Cheers,

Grant

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Here are some photos - The first photo (6.3x mag) shows the general form as best I could snap quickly under the microscope. The second is taken at 12.5x mag and shows individual traps.

I'm sure someone else has noticed this, but I was still excited to see something "new" nonetheless.

-Grant

Utricularia sp hermanus 6.jpg

Utricularia sp hermanus 12.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Hello,
I have U. sp. Kerala (which I'm pretty sure is the same plant) and it produces leaf-bladders very often. In my growing conditions, leaf-bladders occur when moisture and humidity levels are very high, and are present on quite a few species.

So far I've seen direct leaf+bladders on U. sandersonii (after flooding), U. flaccida, U. reniformis (once only), and U. mannii. U. longifolia, U. praetermissa (once or twice, on very young plants), and U. trichophylla (after flooding) sometimes do the leaf+stolon bladders, but I haven't seen bladders directly on leaves.. Low light also seems to encourage leaf-bladders sometimes - or at least I see them less in more well lit areas. It's possible that many other species produce them too, since I haven't tried flooding at them and don't usually look very closely at the leaves.

Edited by w03
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  • 2 weeks later...

What an interesting observation. I've not noticed this myself on my U. sp. "Hermanus" or in fact any other Utric, but the development does not surprise me.

Utric stolons are very adaptable and light and water level (or lack of) does seem to trigger leaf or trap production characteristics.

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I have seen this on Utricularia bifida, Utricularia cornuta, and Utricularia rostrata. All were grown in high humidity environments.

You can see them on Utricularia cornuta in the picture below.

HGkbAT9.jpg

You can also see it on Utricularia rostrata here.

Am5F2Md.jpg

Edited by Mujinamo
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That is fascinating but shouldnt be surprising, as the plant organs we call 'stolons' in Utrics merge together with the leaflike bits in a way that defies simple classification in comparison to the well defined and ordered structures we call leaves, shoots, roots etc in most plants. So traps arising from leaflike bits is just another example of the weirdness of Utricularias :roll:

see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4845801/

for a long read on the subject

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks everyone for the replies (sorry for radio silence, I moved house recently and did not have access to the internet).

It is interesting to see this in other species too - and I was growing mine in very high humitidy. I've had a lot of success growing utrics in Rotho plastic containers, where they flower profusely and grow very rapidly, but it does change the leaf morphology a lot in some species (e.g. U.calicifida begins to look like U.sandersonii). None of the others have produced leaf traps so far, but I'll keep an eye out.

I wonder if only certain species can do this (e.g. subgenus?).

Thanks for the paper link as well - it looks an interesting read (I'll try dive into this at the weekend!).

 

 

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Hi! Indeed, you will hardly see any utricle on the leaves of Utricularia subg. Polypompholix, because leaves in that subgenus are likely "true leaves", and not just leaf-like stems, as in most (all?) species of U. subg. Bivalvaria and U. subg. Utricularia.

In U. subg. Polypompholix you will see separatedly the non-carnivorous, "normal" leaves, and the carnivorus, utricle-modified leaves, both directly connected to the variously shaped stems. In some species, such as U. volubilis, it is easy to see a transition between non-carnivorous and carnivorous leaves.

In the other two subgenera perphaps all true leaves have been transformed into utricles, and this is why species developed leaf-like organs from stems, to substitute true leaves. Then, it is not surprising that utricles (modified leaves) arise from any kind of stem, including leaf-like stems. However, at least to me, it is difficult to tell sometimes if you are looking at a leaf-like stem or at a true leaf. Let's think on U. sect. Orchidioides... who would say that those plants have no true leaves?! It would be interesting to know if there is any recent study particularly focused on the ontogeny and genetics of the Utricularia anatomy.

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  • 1 month later...

I was looking through my old plant pictures and found something interesting. I received the cornuta you see in my first picture from a grower in Taiwan 2 years ago. When it came it looked like this:

DSC_0935.jpg

Then a few months later it became like this:

DSC_0095.jpg

So maybe there is something about my conditions that induces the plant to make bladders on its traps.

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