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Species library › Utricularia › Utricularia stellaris
Carnivorous Well documented

Utricularia stellaris

A medium to large free-floating bladderwort of tropical and subtropical pools, found across Africa and Madagascar, from India and Nepal to South-East Asia, and in northern Australia. Its flowering stems are held up by a whorl of inflated floats arranged like a star, which gives the species its name. Grow it in a sunny, warm tub or aquarium of soft, low-nutrient water.

Utricularia stellaris
Photo: Marco Schmidt[1], CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodAquatic

Where it grows wild

Suspended in still or slow water of pools, swamps, rice fields, dams and seasonal wetlands, often among other aquatic plants. It floats freely without roots, and the yellow flowers are held above the water on a stem buoyed by a star-shaped whorl of floats.

Mostly lowland; GBIF records with elevations have a median near 140 m, and a few records reach over 1500 m on the southern African plateaus and in Madagascar.

Tropical and southern AfricaMadagascarMauritiusComorosIndiaNepalBangladeshSri LankaMyanmarSouth-East AsiaNorthern TerritoryQueensland

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.