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Common butterwort

Pinguicula vulgaris

Also called Violet butterwort, Yorkshire sanicle, Butterwort

Common butterwort
Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0

Common butterwort is a small perennial carnivorous plant of cold, wet habitats such as bogs and fens. Its sticky leaves trap insects for nitrogen, and it needs constantly moist, cool conditions to thrive.

Family
Lentibulariaceae (Lentibulari family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep the growing medium constantly moist, ideally standing in rainwater or distilled water.
Soil
Acidic, nutrient-poor mix such as sphagnum moss with peat or sand.
Temperature
10–20 °C; tolerates cold winters with a dormant resting bud, but needs protection from prolonged heat above 25 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Europe to Siberia, Subarctic America to NC. & NE. U.S.A.
Climate
subalpine or subarctic

About

Pinguicula vulgaris, the common butterwort, is a perennial carnivorous plant in the butterwort genus of the family Lentibulariaceae.

Where it grows

It has a generally circumboreal distribution, being native to almost every country in Europe as well as Russia, Canada, and the United States. It is generally found growing in places such as bogs, fens, alvars, and other areas with limestone bedrock and alkaline waters.

Other Pinguicula plants

Pinguicula acuminata · Pinguicula agnata · Alpine Butterwort · Pinguicula antarctica · Pinguicula balcanica · Blueflower butterwort · Pinguicula caryophyllacea · Casabito Butterwort · Pinguicula chuquisacensis · Pinguicula conzattii · Pinguicula cyclosecta · Pinguicula elizabethiae

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pinguicula vulgaris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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