Common names
Fairies Apron
Purple Bladderwort
Etymology
Utricularia from the Latin 'utriculus' meaning a small bottle or bladder; referring to a small insect trapping sac attached to the underground leaves. Dichotoma from the Greek 'dichotomia' meaning divided in two or forked; referring to paired flowers.
Distribution and status
Found on Kangaroo Island, southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the South-east in South Australia, growing in damp or wet heathy habitats. Also found in all States except the Northern Territory. Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Western Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Tiny terrestrial, perennial herb. Leaves rosetted and on stolons, narrow-linear to broad-elliptic, to 140 mm long and 5 mm wide. Inflorescence 1 to several, erect spike to 50 cm long with 1–9 dark violet flowers, upper lip circular to obovate, rounded or emarginate, lower lip much larger, variable, obtrullate to almost circular, with 2 or more conspicuous yellow central ridges flanked by several less conspicuous violet ridges. Flowering between October and December but can be spasmodically throughout the year. Fruits are reddish brown globular capsule to 5 mm diameter. Seeds are tiny brown ovoid seed to 0.6 mm long and 0.4 mm wide, with a thin mesh-like surface.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between February and October. Collect mature capsules, those turning reddish brown colour, fat and containing brown seeds. Can collect individual capsules or break off the whole stem. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. Then rub the capsules gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From one collection, the seed viability is high, at 100%.
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MSB | 7,500 (0.507 g) | 50+ | 12-Dec-2006 | TST139 Kangaroo Island |