About Utricularia unifolia Ruiz & Pav.
Utricularia unifolia Ruiz & Pav. is a medium-sized perennial carnivorous plant in the Lentibulariaceae family. This species is native to Central America, specifically Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama, and western South America, including Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. It was first published and formally described by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez in 1797. After its initial publication, it was treated as a synonym of Utricularia alpina, until Peter Taylor restored it as a distinct species separate from U. alpina in his 1989 monograph on the Utricularia genus. It grows as either a terrestrial or epiphytic plant, found on moss-covered trees, rocks, or banks in cloud forests, at altitudes ranging between 2,000 m (6,562 ft) and 3,000 m (9,843 ft). This species typically produces only one leaf, rarely two or three, which is the origin of its species epithet "unifolia".
