Utricularia arenariaA.DC.

WFO wfo-0000415731 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Utricularia arenaria, photographed by Andrew Hankey
fig. a Andrew Hankey, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2007-04-18 / obs. 18164341
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by grabbarg
fig. b grabbarg, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 56366271
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by grabbarg
fig. c grabbarg, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 56366261
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by grabbarg
fig. d grabbarg, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 56366248
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by Aaliyah Motala
fig. e Aaliyah Motala, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 171889868
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by Aaliyah Motala
fig. f Aaliyah Motala, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 171889884
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by Aaliyah Motala
fig. g Aaliyah Motala, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 171889921
Utricularia arenaria, photographed by grabbarg
fig. h grabbarg, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 56366268

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 32 botanical countries

Regions where Utricularia arenaria is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Chad, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCaprivi StripChadDR CongoEthiopiaFree StateGabonGhanaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweIndia
Native distribution of Utricularia arenaria, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Caprivi Strip CPV
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Utricularia exilis Oliv.
  • Utricularia exilis var. arenaria (A.DC.) Kamienski
  • Utricularia exilis var. bryoides Welw. ex Hiern
  • Utricularia exilis var. hirsuta Kamienski
  • Utricularia exilis var. nematoscapa Welw. ex Hiern
  • Utricularia kirkii Stapf
  • Utricularia monophylla Dinter
  • Utricularia tribracteata Hochst. ex A.Rich.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.