Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 27(1): 191‒194, 2020 (June) - Short communication © 2020 Bangladesh Association of Plant Taxonomists UTRICULARIA GEMINISCAPA BENJ. (LENTIBULARIACEAE): A NEW ANGIOSPERMIC RECORD FOR BANGLADESH MD. ALMUJADDADE ALFASANE*, RAUF AHMED BHUIYAN AND MONIRUZZAMAN KHAN EUSUFZAI1 Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh Keywords: Utricularia geminiscapa Benj.; Lentibulariaceae; New record; Bangladesh. Utricularia L. is an insectivorous genus comprises of 214 species. Utricularia is distributed throughout the world with the highest species richness in the tropical regions (Taylor, 1989). Freshwater Lentibulariaceae of Bangladesh represented by eight species, namely Utricularia aurea Lour., U. bifida Linn., U. caerulea Linn., U. gibba Linn., U. inflexa Forsk., U. minutis- sima Vahl, U. scandens Benj. and U. stellaris L.f. (Ahmed et al., 2009). The plant materials of this study were collected through a hydrobiological expedition carried out from February 2019 to January 2020 in a natural Baor of Bangladesh namely Baluhar Baor at Kotchandpur Upazilla under the district of Jhenaidah, Bangladesh. The location of the baor is 23°27′ to 23°50′ North latitude and 88°55′ to 89°05′ East longitudes. Baluhar Baor (Ox-bow Lake) is an immemorial and immense water reservoir. The total area of the Baor is 282 ha having a mean depth of 5.88 ± 0.701 m. It is a perennial water body and mostly rain fed. Well managed aquaculture has been carried out in the Baor. The sample was collected from 0.5 m depth of the middle point area of the Baor with other submerged vegetation. The collected plant samples was then put in a large air tight ice bag with some water inside. It was then transported to the Phycology, Limnology and Hydrobiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Dhaka. Some fresh materials were preserved as a herbarium sheet in this laboratory. The remaining plant sample was transferred in a concrete house (1 × 0.5 m length, depth 0.40 cm) in the Botanical Garden, Department of Botany, University of Dhaka for ex-situ conservation and further detailed study. The specimen has finally been identified as Utricularia geminiscapa Benj., consulting Fassett, 1957; Subramanyam, 1979; Oliver, 1859; Clarke, 1884; Kamienski, 1895; Barnhart, 1916; Taylor, 1989; Crow, 1992. Gamble, 1924; Komiya, 1972. Utricularia geminiscapa Benj. was not reported earlier in the previous studies or literature, viz. Hooker (1888), Prain (1903), Datta and Mitra (1953), Khan and Halim (1987), Uddin et al. (2000), Rahman (2005) and Ahmed et al. (2009) from the areas that now fall under the territory of present Bangladesh. Hence, it is reported here as a new record for Bangladesh. A detailed taxonomic account along with photographs of the species has been furnished based on the fresh specimen (Fig. 1). Utricularia L., Sp. Pl. 1, 18 (1753) Utricularia geminiscapa Benj., Linnaea 20(3), 305 (1847), Berlin (Syn. U. clandestina Nutt. ex A.Gray, Manual (Gray) 287 (1848) English name: Hiddenfruit bladderwort Plants perennial, suspended aquatic, glabrous; stolons filiform, sparingly branched. Stems up to 58 cm long, c. 0.5 mm diam., internodes < 10 mm long. Bladders on the scattered leaves. Leaves without spines except at the tips of the divisions. Leaves 10‒24 mm long, divided from *Corresponding author, email: mujaddade@yahoo.com 1Senior Scientific Officer, River Research Institute, Faridpur, Bangladesh. mailto:mujaddade@yahoo.com 192 ALFASANE et al. Fig. 1. Utricularia geminiscapa Benj.; A. Whole plant; B. Bladders on the scattered leaves C-D. Branch and leaves with filiform segments; E. bladder bearing leaves forking at the base; F. Leaves without spines except at the tips of the divisions with showing flower; G. Winter bud. UTRICULARIA GEMINISCAPA BENJ. (LENTIBULARIACEAE) 193 base into 2 primary filiform segments, each divided into numerous secondary segments, the ultimate segments capillary and slightly flattened, minutely and sparsely setulose laterally and apically. Cleistogamous infloresences lacking a peduncle; minute flowers which do not open scattered along the stem at the base of the scape, pedicels arise directly from the stolon, are up to 9 mm long, 2-3 flowered, without scales; bracts without basal lobes, calyx 1.0‒1.4 mm long, corolla minute or absent. Buds 2-5 mm in diameter. Region of origin: The east coast of North America, from North Carolina (United States) north to New Foundland (Canada), and west to Iowa (United States) and Ontario (Canada) (Haber 1979; http:// plants.usda.gov). A small population is present near Westport in New Zealand where the species is thought to have recently naturalized- it was first recorded in this area in 1975 (Heenan et al. 2004). It is assumed that Utricularia geminiscapa may be the disjunct distribution in Bangladesh. Ecology: U. geminiscapa can easily be distinguished from the other species by the cleistogamous flowers. This plants species were also grown in the habitats of shallow wetlands, slow moving streams, reservoirs or canals, edges of lakes, ponds, sloughs, peatland pools. It can also grow in higher water levels and high-nutrient. The habitat of U. geminiscapa in New Zealand is very similar to that in North America where it occurs in low altitude, shallow acid water of peat bogs, ponds, and lakes (Haber 1979; Taylor 1989). In Bangladesh, It was found in the middle area of the Baor with other submerged vegetation. The species was grown under the following physico- chemical condition ranges from air temperature 28.5‒38.5ºC, water temperature 23.0‒33ºC, turbidity 1.6‒8.55 NTU, pH 6.5‒8.1, conductivity 18.5‒55.9 μS/cm, alkalinity 0.4‒0.6 meq/l, DO 3.5‒12.4 mg/l, TDS 12.4‒18.8 mg/l, SRS 1.53‒18.9 mg/l, NO3 -N 0.005‒0.35 mg/l, SRP 2.3‒84.9 μg/l. References Ahmed, Z.U., Hassan, M.A., Begum, Z.N.T., Khondker, M., Kabir, S.M.H., Ahmad, M., Ahmed, A.T.A., Rahman, A.K.A. and Haque, E.U. (eds) 2009. Encyclopedia of flora and fauna of Bangladesh. vol. 8, Angiosperms: Dicotyledons (Fabaceae-Lythraceae). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 478 pp. Barnhart, J.H. 1916. Segregation of genera in Lentibulariaceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 6 : 39‒64. Clarke, C.B. 1884. Lentibulariaceae. In: Hooker, J. D., Flora of British India 4. London. Crow, G.E. 1992. The genus Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) in Costa Rica. Brenesia 38: 1‒18. Datta, R.M. and Mitra, J.N. 1953. Common plants in and around Dacca. Bull. Bot. Soc. Beng. 7(1&2): 1– 110. Fassett, N.C. 1957. A manual of aquatic Plants. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 405 pp. Gamble, J.S. 1924. Flora of the Presidency of Madras 2. London. Haber, E. 1979: Utricularia geminiscapa at Mer Bleue and range extensions in eastern Canada. Canadian Field Naturalist 93: 391‒398. Heenan, P.B., de Lange, P.J. and Knightbridge, P.I. 2004. Utricularia geminiscapa (Lentibulariaceae), a naturalised aquatic bladderwort in the South Island, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 42(2): 247‒251 Hooker, J.D. 1888. Flora of British India, vol.5. L. Reeve & Co. Ltd., Kent, England. pp. 463–686. Kamienski, F. 1895. Lentibulariaceae. In: Engler, A. and Prantl, K. A. E. Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien IV, 3b, Leipzig. Khan, M.S. and Halim, M. 1987. Aquatic angiosperms of Bangladesh. Bangladesh National Herbarium, BARC, Dhaka. 120 pp. Komiya, S. 1972. Systematic studies on the Lentibulariaceae. Dissertation, Nippon Dental College, Tokyo. Oliver, D. 1859. The Indian species of Utricularia. J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 3: 170‒190. http:// 194 ALFASANE et al. Prain, D. 1903. Bengal Plants. Volume 2. Indian reprint 1963. Calcutta. Rahman, M.O. 2005. A taxonomic account of Utricularia Linn. from Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 12(2): 63‒70. Subramanyam, K. 1979. Studies on the Indian Utricularia, a review. J. Ind. Bot. Soc. 58: 1‒16. Taylor, P. 1989. The genus Utricularia – a taxonomic monograph. Kew Bull. Add. Ser XIV: 1-724. HMSO, London. Uddin, M. Z., Khanam, K., Hassan, M. A. and Khan, M. S. 2000. Utricularia minutissima Vahl (Lentibulariaceae) - A new angiospermic record for Bangladesh. Bangladesh Jour. Plant Taxon. 7(1): 65‒67. (Manuscript received on 03 March 2020; revised on 20 May 2020)