Utricularia simulans, the fringed bladderwort, is a small to medium-sized, probably perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

, carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic...

 that belongs to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Utricularia. U. simulans is native to tropical Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. It grows as a terrestrial plant in damp, sandy soils in open savanna at altitudes from near sea level to 1575 m (5,167 ft). U. simulans was originally described and published by Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger

Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger

Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger was a German botanist, who specialised in the study of conifers.The genera Pilgerodendron Florin and Pilgerochloa Eig are named in his honour.Selected bibliography...

 in 1914.

Synonyms

U. simulans covers a vast native range and is an extremely variable species, which accounts for the moderate amount of synonymy

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

.

• [Aranella fimbriata Barnhart]
• [Cosmiza longeciliata Small
  John Kunkel Small
  John Kunkel Small was an American botanist.He was the first Curator of Museums at The New York Botanical Garden, a post in which he served from 1898 until 1906. From 1906 to 1934 he was Head Curator and then from 1934 until his death he was Chief Research Associate and Curator...
  
  ]
• ?Polypompholyx bicolor Klotzsch
  Johann Friedrich Klotzsch
  Johann Friedrich Klotzsch was a German pharmacist and botanist.His principal work was in the field of mycology, with the study and description of many species of mushroom.-Selected works:...
  
  
• P. laciniata Benj.
• P. laciniata var. rubrocalcarata Griseb.
  August Grisebach
  August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach was a German botanist and phytogeographer. Born in Hannover on April 17, 1814, he died at Göttingen on May 9, 1879.- Biography :...
  
  
• Utricularia congesta Steyerm.
• U. congesta f. deminutiva Steyerm.
• [U. fimbriata Leon & Alain]
• U. laciniata Mart.
• [U. laciniata Buscal.]
• U. laciniata var. poeppigiana Buscal.
• [U. longeciliata Oliv.]
• U. orinocensis Steyerm.
• U. surinamensis Buscal.