International Carnivorous Plant Society

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter Archive

 

An account of the antennae-flowered Utricularia of northern Australia

Richard Nunn

Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 51(3):133-142
Published 10 August 2022

https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn513.rn967

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Abstract

In northern Australia there grows a most remarkable group of 6 species of Utricularia with flesh-coloured flowers and an upper or lower corolla lip that has transformed into a pair of tall, erect antennae-like flower lobes. These characters are quite unusual for the genus, and there are numerous hypotheses as to the reasons for these adaptions, the most likely being sexual floral mimicry to attract a pollinator. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of this highly unusual complex, which includes a botanical history and summarised treatments of each species to provide the reader with the key characters necessary to identify these taxa in the field.

Keywords: history, taxonomy, Utricularia, Australia, antennae-flowered, species key, albertiana, dunlopii, capilliflora, dunstaniae, antennifera, lowriei

Article Citation

Richard Nunn. 2022. An account of the antennae-flowered Utricularia of northern Australia. Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 51(3):133-142. https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn513.rn967

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