Utricularia subulataL.

Zigzag bladderwortzigzag bladderwort

WFO wfo-0000417427 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Utricularia subulata, photographed by Jason K.
fig. a Jason K., CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-16 / obs. 198159368

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 94 botanical countries

Regions where Utricularia subulata is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Assam, Borneo, Malaya, Thailand, Northern Territory, Queensland, Portugal, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Argentina Northeast, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweAssamBorneoMalayaThailandNorthern TerritoryQueenslandPortugalAlabamaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWest VirginiaArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.Bahamas
Native distribution of Utricularia subulata, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Borneo BOR
Malaya MLY
Thailand THA
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Portugal POR EUROPE

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 456 in flower of 461 examined

Proportion of examined Utricularia subulata in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 42 42 100% 92% to 100%
Feb 29 29 100% 88% to 100%
Mar 148 148 100% 97% to 100%
Apr 100 100 100% 96% to 100%
May 33 33 100% 90% to 100%
Jun 10 10 100% 72% to 100%
Jul 4 4 too few examined
Aug 7 9 78% 45% to 94%
Sep 14 15 93% 70% to 99%
Oct 19 20 95% 76% to 99%
Nov 26 27 96% 82% to 99%
Dec 24 24 100% 86% to 100%

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Utricularia subulata 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. 456 of 461 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. One month has fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for it. 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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,019 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 1.0 °C 11.1 °C 22.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.7 °C 31.2 °C 33.1 °C
Annual rainfall 1,185 mm 1,441 mm 2,767 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 109 mm 206 mm 360 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,019 research-grade observations of Utricularia subulata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 27 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.

  • Enetophyton cleistogamum (A.Gray) Nieuwl.
  • Setiscapella cleistogama (A.Gray) Barnhart
  • Setiscapella subulata (L.) Barnhart
  • Utricularia angolensis Kamienski
  • Utricularia bradei Markgr.
  • Utricularia capillaris Hoffmanns. ex A.Dietr.
  • Utricularia cleistogama (A.Gray) Britton
  • Utricularia filiformis Roem. & Schult.
  • Utricularia marcelliana Merl ex Luetzelb.
  • Utricularia media Salzm. ex A.St.-Hil. & Girard
  • Utricularia nervosa var. minor Merl ex Luetzelb.
  • Utricularia obsoleta Merl ex Luetzelb.
  • Utricularia oligocista Benj.
  • Utricularia perpusilla A.DC.
  • Utricularia pumila Benj.
  • Utricularia rendlei F.E.Lloyd
  • Utricularia setacea Michx.
  • Utricularia subulata f. cleistogama (A.Gray) Fernald
  • Utricularia subulata f. minor Luetzelb.
  • Utricularia subulata f. subulata
  • Utricularia subulata var. cleistogama A.Gray
  • Utricularia subulata var. inaequalis A.DC.
  • Utricularia subulata var. minuta Kamienski
  • Utricularia subulata var. tridenticulata A.F.Vital

and 3 more.

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.