BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Pinguicula vulgaris | Common Butterwort 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Common butterwort is a fibrous-rooted perennial insectivore that grows 1
to 6 inches (3-15 cm) tall.  The spurred flowers are lavender-purple or
nearly white.  The succulent leaves are 1 to 2 inches (2-5 cm) long.
The leaves have a slimy upper surface which is produced by secretions
from two types of glands.  Stalked glands produce a sticky substrate
which aids in trapping insects, and sessile glands produce enzymes which
digest the prey.  After an insect is caught by the sticky secretions,
the leaf folds over the insect, and enzymes are released for digestion
[4,12].  Studies have shown that phosphorus is apparently the most
important nutrient obtained from the insects.  Plants fed insects also
took up more soil nitrogen.  The majority of prey taken were flies
(Nematocera), and most were caught early in July.  The leaves often died
after trapping the insect because folding reduced the amount of surface
area available for photosynthesis [1,5,6].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
NO-ENTRY


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Common butterwort has been reported in a variety of habitats, including
bogs and wet soil in mountains, a subalpine mire, and growing out of
water.  It occurs at low and mid altitudes and at high altitudes in the
Northeast.  It survives in areas that have a subarctic growing season of
60 to 90 days.  It was found in a relatively open microsite undergoing
succession to a more closed canopy.  It grows best on calcareous sites
but will grow on ombrotrophic (low pH) sites as well.  It will grow in
nutrient-poor soils [1,4,5,8,11,12].  It is associated with alpine
manzanita (Arcotstaphylos alpina), dwarf arctic birch (Betula nana),
alpine azaela (Loiseleuria procumbens), and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum),
and Cladonia spp. [6].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Common butterwort flowers in late July and August in the Northwest [4,8]
and in June and July in the Northeast [11].

Related categories for Species: Pinguicula vulgaris | Common Butterwort