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Many years ago a friend grew this magnificently in a tank, and when the opportinity arose
to grow it here, I took it. I'm not sure how it will feel about winter outside, but only time
will answer that. It comes from the southeastern coastal states of the USA and in the right conditions it is said to be invasive. The Lady Bird Johnson wildflower centre says: "A carnivorous, aquatic plant with several yellow flowers on a stem that rises above the water over a wheel-like float of inflated leaf stalks. When swimming prey, such as minute crustaceans, touch the trigger hairs surrounding the mouth of one of the bladders, a trapdoor-like flap of tissue swings open and the bladder quickly expands, sucking the organisms inside. Enzymes are secreted to dissolve the prey into nutritional elements for the plant. Among the fifteen species that occur in eastern North America, only this one has floats. " |
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| 16th August 2009 | ||
