e-Flora of Thailand

Volume 11 > Part 1 > Year 2011 > Page 40 > Lentibulariaceae > Utricularia

26. Utricularia stellaris L.f.

Suppl. Pl. 86. 1781; Roxb., Fl. Ind. 1: 143. 1820; A.DC. in DC., Prodr. 8: 3. 1844; Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 4. t. 1567. 1850; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 328. 1885; Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 3: 267. 1895; Pellegr. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 4: 470. 1930; Taylor, Fl. Males., Ser. I, Spermat. 8: 278 (key only). 1977; Rani & Matthew in Matthew, Fl. Tamilnadu Carnatic 2: 1122. 1983; P.Taylor, Kew Bull. Addit. Ser. 14: 631. 1989; Hô, Câyco Viêtnam 3: 109. 1993; P.Taylor in Dassanayake & Clayton, Rev. Handb. Fl. Ceylon 9: 199. 1995.


Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.


Description : Suspended aquatic. Stolons filiform, up to 1 m long, sometimes bearing long, capillary air-shoots. Rhizoides absent. Floats present at the base of the peduncle, borne in whorls of 3–8, spongy, ovoid, ca 0.5–2 cm long by 3–5 mm wide, the apex topped by a group of branched, filiform leaves. Leaves filiform, hair-like, much branched, 1–6 cm long. Auricles (at the base of the leaves) 1–2 mm long, divided into filiform segments, not easily distinguishable from the leaves. Traps usually numerous, ovoid, (1–)3 mm long; mouth lateral, with or without 2 tiny appendages. Internal hairs both 2-armed and 4-armed,the latter in shape. Inflorescence erect, emergent, generally solitary, (3–)30(–30) cm long; peduncle hairless; 2–12-flowered; flowers widely spaced. Scales absent. Bracts ovate, attached at the base, 1–2 mm long, blunt or apiculate at tip, much shorter than pedicels. Bracteoles absent. Pedicels ca 10–15 mm long and erect in flower, longer, thickened and strongly deflexed in fruit. Calyx lobes ± equal, 2–3 mm long on flowering; enlarging markedly and spreading in fruit but still, at least partly, clasping the capsule. Corolla bright yellow, 0.7–1 cm long, hairy; upper lip erect, smaller than lower lip, lower lip ± horizontal, palate prominent, spur shorter than and held subparallel to lower lip, straight, shortly pointed. Seeds flattened, disc-shaped, usually with 4–6 sides each with distinct ridged or winged edges, and with a distinct rounded dot-like scar in the middle of one of the flat faces, ca 1 mm long.


Thailand : Not yet recorded.


Distribution : Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal to N Australia, with a discontinuous distribution in SE Asia (see below).


Ecology : Elsewhere in its range, still or flowing water of various depths, most commonly at low altitude.


Notes: A species recorded from Myanmar and Vietnam (Chaudoc or An Giang) and therefore, quite likely to occur in Thailand, though it has not yet been recorded from the country.


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