Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Aldrovanda vesiculosa
Common name
Waterwheel Plant, Waterbug Trap
Family
Droseraceae
Where found
Shallow fresh water, often caught on submerged vegetation. Between Broulee and Moruya.
Notes
Herb usually to 0.2 m long, 10–20 mm in diameter including the leaves. Leaves in whorls of 6–9, 0.2–0.4 cm long, 2–6 mm wide, reddish, modified into a trap of more or less semicircular upcurved halves, with digestive glands, bases fused, tips with 4–8 bristles. Its leaves snap shut on small water animals that trigger the long, sensitive bristles surrounding each leaf. Flowers white or pinkish, with 5 petals each 4–5 mm long. Flowers single, emerging from the water. Flowering: summer.
Endangered NSW. Provisions of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species.
NSW Threatened Species profile: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=10035 (accessed 4 May 2021)
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Aldrovanda~vesiculosa (accessed 4 May 2021)
Description partly based on the Wikipedia description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrovanda_vesiculosa (accessed 4 May 2021)
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