Utricularia jamesoniana is a small perennial epiphytic carnivorous plant in the family Lentibulariaceae. It is a species of bladderwort, a genus of carnivorous plants that capture small organisms using specialized bladder-like traps.
Taxonomy and Nomenclature
The species was originally described and published by the British botanist Daniel Oliver in 1860. The genus name Utricularia derives from the Latin utriculus, meaning "small bladder," referring to the plant's bladder-like trapping structures. The specific epithet jamesoniana honors William Jameson, a Scottish-Ecuadorian botanist who collected extensively in the Andes during the nineteenth century.
Synonyms for the species include Orchyllium schimperi (Schenck) Barnhart, U. concinna N.E.Br., U. schimperi Schenck, and U. verapazensis Morong ex Donn.Sm.
Distribution and Habitat
Utricularia jamesoniana is native to Central America, the Antilles, and northern and western South America. Its recorded range includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, as well as the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Hispaniola, Dominica, and Martinique. According to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Plants of the World Online), the native range extends from Mexico (Chiapas) to tropical America.
The plant grows as an epiphyte, typically found on mossy tree trunks in montane cloud forests or lowland rain forests. It occurs at altitudes ranging from sea level to approximately 2,500 meters (8,202 feet). It flowers year-round.
Morphology
Utricularia jamesoniana is a tuberous epiphyte. It produces trap-bearing filiform (thread-like) stolons radiating from the base of the inflorescence, several of which are swollen near their point of origin into fusiform (spindle-shaped) tubers up to 6 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Its photosynthetic organs are leaf-like, numbering 2–3 from the inflorescence base, and are obovate-spatulate to elliptic in shape, measuring 1–2 cm in total length. The flowers are white with purple veining, described by some growers as orchid-like in appearance.
Conservation Status
The species is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2018 assessment).
References
- Clarke, C.M. (2018). "Utricularia jamesoniana." IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Taylor, Peter. (1989). The genus Utricularia – a taxonomic monograph. Kew Bulletin Additional Series XIV: London.
- Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
