Utricularia foliosaL.

leafy bladderwort

WFO wfo-0000415554 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Jade Fortnash
fig. a Jade Fortnash, CC0 1.0 / 2022-03-27 / obs. 190785450
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Jade Fortnash
fig. b Jade Fortnash, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190785380
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Judy Gallagher
fig. c Judy Gallagher, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 178280099
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. d Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177601319
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Paulo Nogueira
fig. e Paulo Nogueira, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175146518
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Judy Gallagher
fig. f Judy Gallagher, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 174228909
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Judy Gallagher
fig. g Judy Gallagher, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 171120957
Utricularia foliosa, photographed by Tom Field
fig. h Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169048501

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 65 botanical countries

Regions where Utricularia foliosa is native: Angola, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela AngolaBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonChadCongoDR CongoEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMaliNamibiaNigerNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneTanzaniaZambiaAlabamaFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiNorth CarolinaTexasArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela BahamasGalápagos
Native distribution of Utricularia foliosa, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Mali MLI
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Tanzania TAN
Zambia ZAM
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
North Carolina NCA
Texas TEX

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.

Flowering 149 in flower of 168 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Utricularia foliosa observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 149 of 168 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

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 botecudorum A.St.-Hil. & Girard
  • Utricularia cernua Hoffmanns. ex Benj.
  • Utricularia foliosa var. gracilis Kamienski
  • Utricularia foliosa var. oligosperma (A.St.-Hil.) M.Gómez
  • Utricularia guianensis Splitg. ex de Vriese
  • Utricularia mixta Barnhart
  • Utricularia oligosperma A.St.-Hil.
  • Utricularia rhodocnemis Mart. ex Benj.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.