Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 10:06:06 -0700 From: chamb@u.arizona.edu To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2826$foo@default> Subject: Re: Utricularia intermedia
> Yes, this does cover U.minor, which is also common in these areas.
>My aquatic Utrics all have the same nasty habit that you describe,
>mainly they just get stuck by the thin mucous coating to the
>aquarium wall. Aquatic plants tend to have a higher content of
>starch in my experience (drying them out can for herbarium specimens
>can take forever!).
In my expereince, quite the opposite. Suspended aquatics have little or no
cuticle and dry exceedingly fast.
> In the wild, I have seen some Utrics stranded on shore from
>dropping water levels, but this is usually because they're wrapped
>around emergent vegetation, rocks, twigs, etc. For the most part,
>they stay in the water due to wind and wave action, something that
>tends to be limited in aquaria ;-)!
Utricularia intermedia begins the season as a turion on or just below the
surface of the substrate at the margin of lakes/ponds etc. As the turion
expands it immediately puts out dimophic shoots; white "rootlike" branches
with bladders which penetrate the substrate, and green "leafy" branches
which creep along the substrate, or become delicate floating/suspended
branches if in deeper water. The plant remains "rooted" and will not move,
though fragments may drift about. This and similar aquatic Utrics seem to
need to be intwined in vegetation or a firm substrate to bloom. Loose or
floating stems do not bloom, and if they "tried" they'd just flop over and
lay the flower on the water surface without the support.
Michael
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