Utricularia inflexa Forssk.

Medium sized to large, possibly perennial, suspended aquatic. Rhizoids absent. Stolons filiform, terete, up to 1 m long, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, sparsely branched, glabrous; internodes 0.5-2 cm long, sometimes bearing long capillary air shoots, 0.2-0.4 mm thick, with apical, minute, elliptic, membranous scales. Leaves very numerous, semicircular in outline, 1-6 cm long, divided from the base into 3-6, semiverticillate, primary, filiform or sometimes inflated segments; secondary segments pinnate, alternate, each pinna dichotomously divided from the base into numerous further segments, the ultimate segments capillary, somewhat flattened, laterally and apically setulose; stipule-like auricles usually present at the base of the primary segments, the auricles approximately circular in outline, hyaline, the margin denticulate or divided dichotomously into numerous, densely setulose segments. Traps usually numerous on the secondary segments, obliquely ovoid, stalked, 1-3 mm long, the mouth lateral, naked or with 2 dorsal, simple or sparsely branched, setiform appendages and sometimes also with a few, simple, lateral setae, the internal glands 2-and 4-armed, the arms narrowly cylindrical, with apex rounded, up to 60 µ long and up to 7 times as long as wide, the quadrifids with the longer pair parallel and the shorter pair reflexed with an included angle of c. 270°. Inflorescence erect, emergent, simple, 3-33 cm long; peduncle filiform, terete, glabrous, 0.5-2 mm thick, with a whorl of 5-10 spongy floats near the base or at least usually below the middle, the floats narrowly cylindrical, 2-5 cm long, shortly stipitate, with the apex acute and bearing a few, short, capillary leaf segments. Scales absent. Bracts basifixed, broadly ovate to circular, with apex obtuse or rounded, 2-3 mm long, membranous, obscurely many-nerved. Bracteoles absent. Flowers 2-16, the raceme axis short, but elongating somewhat in fruit; pedicels filiform, 1-5 mm long, dorsiventrally compressed and winged, erect or spreading at anthesis, deflexing or decurving and ± elongating and widening in fruit. Calyx lobes subequal, broadly ovate to circular, c. 3 mm long at anthesis, accrescent, somewhat fleshy and up to 1 cm long in fruit, completely enclosing and concealing the capsule, the upper lobe with apex rounded, the lower lobe with apex retuse. Corolla white or pale mauve or more rarely yellow, with purple nerves, 0.7-1 cm long, ± densely covered externally with fine, flexuous, multi-cellular, gland-tipped hairs; upper lip broadly ovate with apex retuse or emarginate; lower lip limb transversely elliptic, the base with a prominent bilobed swelling, the apex rounded or emarginate; palate pubescent; spur cylindrical from a broad conical base, with apex obtuse or emarginate. Filaments slightly curved, c. 2 mm long, the anther thecae ± confluent. Ovary globose; style short but distinct; stigma lower lip transversely elliptic, ciliate, the upper lip much smaller, deltoid or ± obsolete. Capsule globose, c. 5 mm in diameter, with persistent style up to 3 mm long, the wall somewhat fleshy, circumscissile. Seeds prismatic, 4-6 angled, about as long as or longer than wide, narrowly winged on all the angles, the testa cells elongate, indistinct, the anticlinal boundaries sunken or very slightly raised, straight, the periclinal walls tabular, very densely, microscopically papillose. Probably flowering more or less throughout the year.