The leaf arrangement is spiral. The laminae are compound and laciniate. All the leaves of vegetative branches photosynthesize and bear bladders. The leaves are dark green – brownish – reddish in color. The lamina is two or three times laciniate. The lobes are 0.1–0.3 mm wide, typically without venation. The segments are serrulate with 5–10 cuspidate teeth. Each tooth has one or two cusps at the apex. A cusp is 3–12 times longer than its tooth.

The bladders (2–3 mm) are at the apices of the lobes of the leaves. The inside of a bladder is covered with sessile, four-branched stellate hairs (two of the branches are long and the other two are short). The branches of the stellate hairs are 9–12 µm wide. The long and short branches are nearly parallel, and the angle between same type of branches is typically 85–130°. There are two-branched stellate hairs at the mouth of the bladder.

There are scale-like upper leaves at the distal part of the floral branch.

Vattenbläddra – Utricularia vulgaris