Pinguicula vulgaris, Common Butterwort

Identifying Characteristics:

The butterwort is a small plant with broad leaves in a basal rosette meaning that the leaves are grown around the base of the plant. There is one bilaterally symmetrical, purple flower on the stalk. The stalks of the plant have no leaves. Sometimes, this flower can be white. The leaves of the plant are below the stalk and have a sweet aroma. They are very sticky, making them ideal for carnivory.

Pinguicula vulgaris (Common butterwort) #32475 Image result for butterwort

Range:

It can be found in North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia.

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Native Habitat:

The butterwort finds its home in wetlands. These include bogs, banks, on wet rocks, and in open moist soil often near limestone.

Life Cycle:

The butterwort is a perennial plant that comes back each year from plant buds. The butterwort’s flowers are made to be pollinated by pollinators with long tongues such as hummingbirds and butterflies. A few days after pollination, the flower petals will fall off of the plant. Over a period of a few weeks, the seedpod will begin to swell, brown, and then split open. Butterwort seeds are tiny and come in large quantities. The seeds are only viable for a few months.

Interesting facts:

The genus name means “greasy little one,” referring to the slimy upper surface and fatty texture of the soft fleshy leaves.

Pinguicula vulgaris grows on the shores of Lake Superior and is so rare that it is protected under Michigan law.

There are 80 species of butterwort.

Carnivory:

Utilizes a flypaper trap where small organisms are drawn in to the sweet scent of the plant, land on it, and stick to the leaves. These insects are then digested by the plant. The stickiness of the leaves comes from secretions that originate from glandular hairs known as trichomes that are present on the leaves.

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