Utricularia Linnaeus (1753: 18)

Costa, Suzana M., Bittrich, Volker & Do Amaral, Maria Do Carmo E., 2016, Lentibulariaceae from the Viruá National Park in the northern Amazon, Roraima, Brazil, Phytotaxa 258 (1), pp. 1-25 : 7

Utricularia Linnaeus (1753: 18)

Marsh and aquatic herbs, rarely epiphytes. True roots absent but anchor stolons (modified leafy structures) mostly present in marsh and epiphytic species and absent in aquatic species; stolons cylindrical or capillary (compressed in U. foliosa ), glabrous or sometimes with simple hairs. Leaves: (1) chlorophyllous, laminar; (2) achlorophyllous or chlorophyllous, divided into capillary segments; and (3) modified into terminal ( U. cucullata , U. myriocista , U. purpurea ) or lateral traps (utricles) on the type 2 leaves and/or distributed on vegetative parts, globose or ovoid, with a mouth provided with a hinged door with sensitive appendages, rarely lacking appendages. Racemes few to many-flowered or reduced to one flower. Flowers white, yellow, pink, reddish, lilac or purple, sometimes with a white, lilac, red or yellow mark on the lower lip of the corolla and spur. Calyx 2- or 4-lobed, lobes variably shaped. Corolla bilabiate; upper and lower lips entire to multi-lobed, sometimes the lobes saccate; spur cylindrical or conical, rarely cuneiform (wedge-shaped) or botuliform (sausage-shaped spur with round apex), apex acute to obtuse, rarely multifid. Stamens with a short filament (elongate only in U. guyanensis ). Ovules numerous, rarely few or 2, style short (elongate only in U. guyanensis ), persistent; stigma bilabiate. Fruit capsular, globose to ovoid, dehiscing longitudinally, circumscissely or valvar, or indehiscent. Seeds with variable shape and ornamentation.

Distribution:—This genus is cosmopolitan with approximately 240 species and is more species-rich in the tropics.