Utricularia unifolia is a medium-sized perennial carnivorous plant that belongs to the genus Utricularia. U. unifolia is native to Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama) and western South America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela). It was originally published and described by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez in 1797 and later considered a synonym of Utricularia alpina until Peter Taylor's 1989 monograph on the genus where he restored the species as distinct from U. alpina. It grows as a terrestrial or epiphytic plant on moss-covered trees, rocks, or banks in cloud forests at altitudes between 2,000 m (6,562 ft) and 3,000 m (9,843 ft). U. unifolia usually produces only one leaf (rarely two or three), which is where the species epithet "unifolia"