In order to learn how to tell the difference between different bladderwort specimens, I laid them out next to each other in a shallow tray of water. The water was just enough to allow them to 'behave' as they would naturally in water, but not so much as to allow them to float apart. I used tweezers to splay out the stems and leaves in a manner that would allow comparison between the two, and highlight how the leaves were arranged. I also plucked as much other debris and extraneous material from the water as I could.
I took loads of photos, and included a scale to help with comparisons. As usual, I struggled with the reflective surface of the water (and shading by me), but thought I'd got a few good-enough shots. I walked away and left the samples out on my deck. When I came back to clear the table the following day, the water had evaporated, leaving the samples perfectly dried out in a manner that was ideal for display and comparative purposes.
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| Utricularia inflata (left) laid out next to Utricularia vulgaris (right) |
I had stumbled upon a very quick and easy method for preserving aquatic plants, but the problem was that they were now "stuck" to the plastic tray.
Our friend Bunny suggested doing this again with a sheet of wax or parchment paper on the bottom of the tray, so that the display could be removed and the specimens preserved. And of course, it worked! She also suggested that I include Utricularia radiata in the comparative display. This is how I went about the refinement
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| Utricularia radiata (left), U. inflata (center) and U. vulgaris (right) in water |
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| Utricularia radiata (left), U. inflata (center) and U. vulgaris (right) dried out on paper |