Utricularia affinis Wight; U. brachypoda Wight; U. caerulea Linnaeus var. affinis (Wight) Thwaites; U. decipiens Dalzell; U. elachista K. I. Goebel; U. griffithii Wight; U. lilacina Griffith; U. macrophylla Masamune & Syozi; U. nayarii Janarthanam & A. N. Henry; U. reticulata Smith var. uliginosa (Vahl) C. B. Clarke; U. yakusimensis Masumune.

Annuals, terrestrial. Rhizoids and stolons capillary, branched. Traps on rhizoids, stolons, and leaves, stalked, globose, 1-1.5 mm, glandular, mouth basal; appendages 2, dorsal, subulate, stipitate. Leaves few to numerous, at stolon nodes, glabrous; leaf blade linear to narrowly obovate, 2.5-4.5 cm × 1.5-6 mm, membranous, veins 3, base attenuate onto petiole, margin entire, apex rounded to acute. Inflorescences erect, 3-12 cm, 1-10-flowered, glabrous; peduncle slightly angular, 0.2-0.5 mm thick; scales few, similar to bracts; bracts basifixed, narrowly ovate, 0.8-1 mm, apex acute. Pedicel suberect, 1-1.5 mm at anthesis but to 5 mm in fruit, filiform, narrowly winged; bracteoles narrowly linear to subulate, slightly shorter than bract, apex acute. Calyx lobes broadly ovate to suborbicular, 2.5-5 mm, margin minutely denticulate; lower lobe slightly smaller than upper lobe, apex emarginate; upper lobe apex obtuse to subacute. Corolla lilac, violet, or white, 3-7 mm; lower lip suborbicular, base much swollen, apex rounded to emarginate; spur subulate, ± as long as lower corolla lip, widely divergent, apex acute; palate with a ciliate marginal rim; upper lip oblong, scarcely longer than upper calyx lobe, apex rounded to emarginate. Filaments ca. 1 mm, straight; anther thecae distinct. Ovary ovoid, dorsiventrally compressed; style short but evident; stigma lower lip semicircular, upper lip obsolete. Capsule ovoid, 2-4 mm, dorsiventrally compressed, dehiscing by dorsal and ventral longitudinal slits. Seeds subglobose, 0.3-0.4 mm in diam.; seed coat with prominent isodiametric reticulations. Fl. Jun-Oct, fr. Jul-Nov.

The report of Utricularia uliginosa from Yunnan (C. Y. Wu, Index Fl. Yunnan. 2: 1636. 1984; H. Li, Fl. Yunnan. 4: 740. 1986) is in fact U. graminifolia.

Swamps, streamsides, rice fields; near sea level to 400 m. S Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan [India, Indonesia, S Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia, Pacific islands (Guam, New Caledonia, Palau)].