utricularia lateriflora ?? please ID

[mmandi]

is this u. lateriflora ?? or maybe delicatula ??

[An D Smith]

Hi Mmandi

I suppose it could be U. lateriflora but here is a photo of this species I took in Tasmania last year.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers

Andy

[Martin Hingst]

Hi mmandi,

hard to tell by the above pictures. Maybe you will have to wait until the scapes are fully developed, or even fruit. In between, there is some interesting and very advisable reading for you here (in both terms of science and education!): http://www.sarracenia.com/pubs/focus4.html

The following part I found particularly applying, so I’d like to quote it here:

The case of U. lateriflora and U. delicatula is difficult, and in the past Taylor believed them both to be components of the same species. But the differences between U. lateriflora and U. delicatula, although small, are consistent and there are few specimens of plants with intermediate characters, so in his monograph he concluded the split is justified. Perhaps it is best to defer to the botanists familiar with the genus and who have seen all the evidence.

But botany, like the other sciences, is constantly refining and evolving in its conclusions, and this issue is open to everyone's ruminations. Maybe we should take a vote!

Andy, nice plant you caught there! But following Barry’s explanations, it may be delicatula more likely?

Regards

Martin

Edited February 27, 2008 by Martin Hingst

[Andreas Fleischmann]

Hello,

Andy, nice plant you caught there! But following Barry’s explanations, it may be delicatula more likely?

Nope, the plant on Andy's photo bears a "sterile" bract (a bract not subtending a developed flower), easy to notice at half distance between the uppermost and the 2nd flower. And U. delicatula is limited to New Zealand ;). Andy did photograph U. lateriflora in Tasmania.

Mmandi, your plant is U. lteriflora, too.

All the best,

Andreas

[Martin Hingst]

U. delicatula is limited to New Zealand ;)

Ups - yes.

But bearing one single sterile bract - does that really mean that much here? I have read it occurs fewer on delicatula than on lateriflora scapes, whatever that means. But it happens, right?

I have tried to find any significance in my plants, but my lateriflora do not show this sparser inflorescence, at least not to the extend of Taylors drawings or Barrys descriptions ("half or even less of the bracts are at the base of fully developed flowers"). And this seems not to be true for Andys lateriflora either - I can only see this single one besides these three flowers.

How would you describe the ratio sterile vs. flowering buds for those two species, Andreas?

Regards

Martin

[Christian]

Hi,

it took quite some time for me to discover this topic! Last summer i tried to find out if what i am growing are truly these two species. I took the followig four pictures:

(lateriflora left, delicatula right)

Based on the following parts of Taylors Description i draw the conclusion, that my plants are correctly identified:

Utricularia delicatula:

Scales numerous, especially towards the peduncle base, similar to the bracts, but smaller

I think, this can be seen well at the second picture.

Besides this, Taylor describes the height of the inflorescences as 8-20 cm for U. lateriflora and 3-15 cm for Utricularia delicatula. This also fits to my plants. So, i hope i have identified my plants right! If anyone has got another oppinion, please let me know

Christian

Edited June 28, 2008 by Christian

[Fredders]

Hi Guys

These are some pics of U. lateriflora that I took in the wild in Victoria, Australia at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens.

As I've never seen U. deliculata I'm not able to help in telling you what's what.

But as I grow U. lateriflora in my collection, I have found that it self pollinates, and can spread into other pots very easily.

Something to be aware of if you grow other Utrics and don't want them mixed up.

Cheers

Steve