Utricularia australis R. Br.

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2022, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 15, Willdenowia 52 (2), pp. 273-299 : 285-286

Utricularia australis R. Br. – Fig. 7.

+ Cm: Crimea: Alushta City District, vicinity of Luchistoye village, 44°43'53.51''N, 34°25'03.43''E, in a small pond, 9 Sep 2021, Svirin & Yevseyenkov (CSAU). – This rootless submerged aquatic carnivorous herb has not been recorded for Crimea before. It was found in abundance by one of us (S.A.B.) close to Luchistoye in October 2020, but the absence of flowers did not allow species identification. In August–September 2021, the plants were found there in five small ponds in full bloom. The species was observed in vegetation dominated by Phragmites australis (Cav.) Steud. , Sparganium erectum L., Alisma plantago-aquatica L. and by the submerged herbs Myriophyllum spicatum L., Potamogeton natans L., P. crispus L., P. berchtoldii Fieber and Chara spp. Among specimens in CSAU collected in Crimea 20 years ago, at least one specimen undoubtedly belongs to U. australis (Crimea, Nizhnegorskiy Rayon, 3 km NE from Lyubimovka village, in a pond, 31 Aug 2001, Smyk, as U. vulgaris L.). Hence, we suppose that this species was present in the region already decades before its proper identification. Utricularia australis can easily be confused with U. vulgaris , which is known as a member of the Crimean flora ( Yena 2012) but is distinguished from the latter species by its pedicel being 4–5 times (not 2–3 times) longer than the floral bracts and never incurved (as in U. vulgaris ) after flowering; furthermore, U. australis is sterile in the majority of European localities ( Taylor 1989). These characters are well discernible in living as well as in dried plants; in the field, the two species differ clearly with the shape of the lower lip margin—flat in U. australis and deflexed in U. vulgaris . Utricularia australis is reported as native nearly throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region, but it is absent from Iceland, Sardinia, some of the W Balkan countries, N Africa E of Tunisia and from the S part of the Russian Federation and the countries of S Caucasus ( Uotila 2013 +). Chorologically, U. australis should be recognized as native to Crimea, spreading there by ornithochory of its vegetative diaspores.

S. A. Bogdanovich, A. P. Seregin, S. A. Svirin,

P. E. Yevseyenkov & A. V. Yena