Humped bladderwort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Humped bladderwort |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Utricularia
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| Species: |
gibba
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| Synonyms | |
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Utricularia exoleta R. Br. |
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Utricularia gibba, also known as the humped bladderwort or floating bladderwort, is a small carnivorous plant. It grows in water and forms a mat. You can find this plant on every continent except Antarctica.
This plant has a very small genome (its complete set of DNA). But it still has a normal number of genes for a plant. Only about 3% of its DNA is "non-coding," meaning it doesn't contain instructions for making proteins.
Contents
About the Humped Bladderwort
Utricularia gibba is an aquatic plant that eats small creatures. It belongs to a group of plants called Utricularia. The name gibba comes from a Latin word meaning "hump" or "swelling." This refers to a part of its flower.
This plant can grow in shallow water, attached to the bottom. Or it can float freely in deeper water. It often flowers more if it's supported by something under the water. It grows long, thin, branching stems called stolons. These can be up to 20 cm (8 inches) long.
Small, leaf-like parts grow along these stems. They are about 0.5 to 1.5 cm (0.2 to 0.6 inches) long. They often branch out a few times at the end.
How the Traps Work
The plant has special bladder traps instead of some branches. These traps are oval-shaped and attached by a short stalk. Each trap is about 1 to 2.5 mm long. They have two main branched "hairs" on top. There are also smaller hairs around the trap's opening.
These hairs are like triggers. When a small water creature touches them, the trap quickly sucks the prey inside. Then the plant digests it.
Flowers and Appearance
The plant sends up tall flower stalks, usually out of the water. These stalks can be up to 20 cm (8 inches) tall. Each stalk can have one to twelve flowers, but usually has two to six.
The flowers are yellow and sometimes have reddish-brown lines. They have two main parts, like lips. The top lip is almost round. The bottom lip is a bit smaller and also round, with a rounded bump in the middle. A thin, curved part called a spur hangs below the flower.
Utricularia gibba can flower all year long if the conditions are right. The flowers range from 0.8 to 1.5 cm (0.3 to 0.6 inches) across.
In New Zealand, Utricularia gibba is considered a weed.
Where It Lives and Grows
Utricularia gibba lives in many places around the world. You can find it in the United States (except Alaska and the Rocky Mountain states), Canada, Central and South America, Spain, Israel, most of Africa, and much of Asia (including China and Japan). It also grows in New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, and the North Island of New Zealand.
It likes to grow in still or slow-moving water. This includes ponds, lakes, ditches, pools, bogs, swamps, and marshes. It can sometimes be found in deep water. But it will only flower if its flower stalks are supported near the surface.
The water where it grows often doesn't have much phosphorus or nitrogen. This is why the plant catches and eats small water creatures. It gets the nutrients it needs from them. Utricularia gibba usually grows at lower elevations. But it can be found as high as 2,500 meters (8,200 feet).
Its Amazing DNA
In 2013, scientists studied the genome of U. gibba. They found it is very small, only 82 megabases long. This is tiny for a plant! But even with its small size, it has about 28,500 genes. This is more genes than some plants with much bigger genomes.
The big difference is that U. gibba has very little "non-coding DNA." This is DNA that doesn't carry instructions for making proteins. Only about 3% of its DNA is non-coding. For comparison, about 98.5% of human DNA is non-coding.
Most flowering plants have a lot of "jumping genes" (called retrotransposons) in their DNA. But in U. gibba, these make up only 2.5% of its DNA. This discovery makes scientists wonder if all that extra, non-coding DNA is really needed for life.
One scientist, Victor Albert, said, "At least for a plant, junk DNA really is just junk – it's not required."
Scientists believe that Utricularia gibba and the tomato plant came from a common ancestor about 87 million years ago. Both plants had times when their DNA doubled in size. Utricularia gibba had its DNA double at least three times! But then, unlike the tomato, it got rid of most of the DNA it didn't need. Now, its genome is only one-tenth the size of a tomato's.
It's thought that the plant got rid of this extra DNA over time. This might have happened because it needed to save energy or phosphorus.
Growing This Plant
Utricularia gibba is known as one of the easiest water bladderworts to grow. Some people even call it a "weed" because it grows so easily.
A plant expert named Peter D'Amato suggested that you can grow U. gibba floating in a small cup of water. You can also grow it in wet peat or even in water trays with other plants. It also grows very well in aquaria (fish tanks).
Images for kids
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A close-up of the yellow flower of Utricularia gibba.
See also
In Spanish: Utricularia gibba para niños
