BogTrapsA field guide to growing carnivorous plants

Schematic line drawing, not to scale.

Utricularia: Bladderworts

Utricularia livida

Published October 15, 2026Awaiting editor review12 sources

A small terrestrial bladderwort of wet grassland and seasonal pools from Ethiopia to the Cape and Madagascar, with an isolated range in the mountains of Mexico. Flowers are usually lilac to purple with a yellow spot.

Range
Eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia south through the East African highlands, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to eight of South Africa's nine provinces (all but the Northern Cape), plus Madagascar; separately in the mountains of Mexico from Sonora and Nuevo León south to Chiapas [1, 3, 4].
Habitat
Wet grassland, seasonal pools and marshy ground [2, 5]. In central Mexico it grows in temporarily or permanently flooded places and on marshy stream banks within pine, pine-oak and fir forest [4].
Status
Rated Least Concern in South Africa's national Red List (assessed 2006) [3]. IUCN has also assessed it; see its Red List assessment [6]. Zamudio notes that although it is widespread in Mexico, it is rare in the Bajío region and could disappear locally if its sites are altered [4].

Growing conditions at a glance

Guidance published for the cultivation group this species belongs to.

Light
Moderate light: ICPS suggests about 8,000 to 15,000 lux of white light under LEDs for Utricularia and warns that strong light encourages algae and cyanobacteria [7].
Water
Pure water, with the water level near or slightly above the soil surface [8].
Soil
ICPS grows terrestrial bladderworts in pure Sphagnum or 1:1 peat and sand; too much fertilizer can kill them [8].
Humidity
Pots can stand in a little water or sit in containers without drainage; ICPS raises seedlings in a terrarium [8].
Temperature
Wild plants range from Kenyan highland grassland to Mexican pine and fir forest [2, 4]; ICPS lists it among plants that survived outdoors all year in a bog garden in North Vancouver, British Columbia [9].
Dormancy
In the Bajío region of Mexico it flowers and fruits throughout the year [4]; the ICPS terrestrial guide describes no dormancy for the group [8].

One species on two continents

Utricularia livida is widespread in eastern and southern Africa and Madagascar, and it also grows, far away, in the mountains of Mexico [1, 4]. Zamudio’s Mexican flora calls the distribution disjunct and records it from about twenty Mexican states, from Sonora and Chihuahua in the north to Oaxaca and Chiapas in the south [4]. Mexican plants were once described as a separate species, U. sinuata, from a collection in Hidalgo; that name is now a synonym [4].

The species was named from South African material. The type, collected by J. F. Drège, was destroyed in Berlin, and a duplicate survives at Kew [4]. In South Africa it is not endemic but occurs in eight provinces, from the Western Cape to Limpopo [3]. SANBI lists more than a dozen synonyms, from U. dregei and U. elevata to U. sanguinea and U. transrugosa, along with common names in Afrikaans (blaaskruid), isiZulu (intambo) and Sesotho (tlamana-sa-metsi) [3].

Within the genus it belongs to section Calpidisca, a mainly African group of small terrestrial species that also includes U. sandersonii [10]. The bladderwort overview explains the trap and the cultivation groups.

What it looks like

Zamudio’s description from Mexican material gives these features [4]:

Part Description
Plant Terrestrial or marsh herb, annual or perennial, 3 to 25 cm tall
Stolons Round, much branched, up to 5 cm long and 0.16 to 0.4 mm thick
Leaves Few to many, usually one at the base of the flower stalk and the rest on the stolons; narrowly spoon-shaped, obovate or kidney-shaped, 4 to 35 (rarely 70) mm long and 1 to 6 mm wide
Traps Numerous on stolons and leaves, ovoid, 0.75 to 1.5 (rarely 2) mm long, with two glandular appendages on the back
Flower stalk Usually 2 to 20 cm, occasionally to 80 cm, with 2 to 12 or more flowers
Corolla Usually lilac to purple, sometimes yellow or white, with a yellow spot at the base of the lower lip; lower lip 3 to 5 mm long; spur usually 6 to 7 mm
Capsule Round, mostly 2.5 to 3 mm across, splitting lengthwise

Its traps have a velum, a soft seal at the door, made from the outer of three zones of glandular hairs on the threshold. Płachno’s group found the same structure in U. sandersonii [11].

Wet grassland from the equator to the Cape

In East Africa it is a plant of the highlands. A checklist of Kenya’s Aberdare Ranges gives its habitat as wet grassland and its elevation range as sea level to 2,730 m [2], and in Kenya’s Cherangani Hills it was collected in seasonal pools at 2,325 to 2,730 m [5]. In the Bvumba Mountains on the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border it was recorded alongside three other bladderworts and Genlisea hispidula [12].

In central Mexico it grows in places that are flooded seasonally or all year and on marshy banks of streams and rivers, within pine, pine-oak and fir forest, at 2,000 to 2,500 m and occasionally to 3,000 m. There it flowers and fruits all year [4].

Status in the wild

South Africa’s national Red List assessed it as Least Concern in 2006 [3]. IUCN has also assessed it; see its Red List assessment [6]. Zamudio warns, however, that it is rare in Mexico’s Bajío region and could vanish locally if its few sites are altered [4].

Growing it

Care follows the ICPS guide to terrestrial bladderworts [8]. These plants are easy, grown for their flowers, and not fussy about soil: pure Sphagnum or 1:1 peat and sand both work. Keep the water level near or slightly above the soil surface, use pure water and avoid fertilizer in the mix. Pots can stand in a little water or sit in containers without drainage. See water and light; ICPS rates bladderworts as moderate-light plants [7].

Like its relatives, it spreads by underground stolons, so expect it to colonize neighboring pots [8]. ICPS recommends refreshing crowded pots by removing half the soil and plants and replacing them with fresh mix, which also gives a second pot [8].

Some growers have kept it outdoors. An ICPS account of a bog garden in North Vancouver lists U. livida with U. sandersonii and U. bisquamata among the plants that grew there all year, while warning that results may differ elsewhere [9]. See bog gardens.

Propagation

Division of a crowded pot is the simplest method [8]. Because some terrestrial bladderworts are annuals or short-lived perennials, ICPS also advises collecting seed. Sow it on the surface of a wet to very wet medium, keep the pot in a closed plastic bag with a little water under lights until it germinates, then move it to a terrarium [8]. See sowing seeds and terrariums and humidity.

Related guides

Related plants

Sources

  1. Utricularia livida E.Mey.: World Checklist of Vascular Plants record (via GBIF). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; dataset published 2026-06-04, CC BY 4.0. Accepted name, authority, synonyms and native range. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  2. An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Aberdare Ranges Forest, a part of Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot. PhytoKeys 149: 1-88 (2020), Kipkoech et al.. Habitat (wet grassland) and elevation range, Kenya. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  3. Utricularia livida E.Mey., National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Least Concern (2006); provinces; synonyms; Afrikaans, Zulu and Sesotho common names. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  4. Familia Lentibulariaceae (Flora del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes, fascículo 136), by Sergio Zamudio Ruiz. Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Pátzcuaro (2005). Full description with measurements, Mexican habitats, elevation, phenology, Mexican and African range, local rarity. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  5. An annotated checklist of vascular plants of Cherangani hills, Western Kenya. PhytoKeys 120: 1-90 (2019), Mbuni et al.. Seasonal pools at 2,325 to 2,730 m. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  6. Utricularia livida: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessment. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Assessment link found through the Red List checklist published on GBIF; Red List categories are not reproduced on this site. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  7. LED Plant Lighting. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Moderate light for Utricularia. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  8. Growing Genlisea and terrestrial Utricularia. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Care of terrestrial bladderworts; U. livida flowers illustrated. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  9. Pacific Northwest Bogs. International Carnivorous Plant Society. U. livida grown outdoors all year in a North Vancouver bog garden. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  10. Evolution of unusual morphologies in Lentibulariaceae (bladderworts and allies) and Podostemaceae (river-weeds): a pictorial report at the interface of developmental biology and morphological diversification. Annals of Botany 117(5): 811-832 (2016), Rolf Rutishauser. Section Calpidisca membership. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  11. The structure and occurrence of a velum in Utricularia traps (Lentibulariaceae). Frontiers in Plant Science 10: 302 (2019), Płachno, Świątek, Miranda and Stolarczyk. Velum and threshold zones in U. livida traps. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  12. Mountains of the Mist: a first plant checklist for the Bvumba Mountains, Manica Highlands (Zimbabwe-Mozambique). PhytoKeys 145: 93-129 (2020), Timberlake et al.. Recorded with three other bladderworts and Genlisea hispidula. Accessed October 12, 2026.