pronounced: len-tib-yoo-lair-ee-AY-see-eye
The family name appears to be derived from two Latin words, lens (lentis) a lentil, and tubulus, a small pipe or trumpet, although why lentil should have been associated with this family is obscure. There are 3 genera in the family, Genlisea, the corkscrew plants, Pinguicula, the butterworts, and Utricularia, the bladderworts. They are all carnivorous plants of wetlands, aquatic habits and moist forest. The leaves are always highly modified, flat, and densely covered with sticky digestive hairs. The tubular flowers are bisexual, with a 2-lipped corolla, the lower lip usually with a nectar spur or sac. There are 2 stamens, the filament adnate to the corolla, the anthers unilocular and longitudinally dehiscent. The ovary is superior, usually with numerous ovules. The fruit is usually circumscissile, loculicidal, or irregularly dehiscent, producing numerous seeds.
