October 4,
Myles Standish State Forest, Plymouth
Unlike many other bladderworts that spend their lives floating
or submersed in water, horned bladderwort belongs to those terrestrial
species that always root in the substrate. Its flowering stems are
leafless. Linear slender leaves that bear tiny bladders--traps for small
animals are subterrestrial and thus nearly impossible to find. In order to
see them, you'd have to dig the plant out together with a chunk of
substrate and carefully wash the soil away. Photo credit Luba Batuner