Utricularia simulans, the fringed bladderwort, is a small to medium-sized, probably perennial, carnivorous plant that belongs to the genus Utricularia. U. simulans is native to tropical Africa and the Americas. It grows as a terrestrial plant in damp, sandy soils in open savanna at altitudes from near sea level to 1,575 m (5,167 ft). U. simulans was originally described and published by Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger in 1914.