BogTrapsA field guide to growing carnivorous plants

Genus, family Lentibulariaceae

Pinguicula

Butterworts

Published October 15, 2026Awaiting editor review23 sources

WCVP accepts 129 species of Pinguicula and 2 named hybrids [1]. The genus ranges across Eurasia, North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Morocco, and Mexico alone holds more than 40 species, about 90% of them found nowhere else [2]. Butterworts are tied to wet, nutrient-poor ground: acidic bogs, alkaline fens, stream banks, rock faces kept wet by dripping water, and foggy slopes, often on shaded or north-facing sites [2].

Accepted species
129[1]
Named hybrids
2
Trap
Flypaper trap
Profiles here
4

Species profiles

Pinguicula grandiflora

Large-flowered butterwort

Flypaper trap

A western European butterwort split between southwest Ireland and the mountains of Spain, France and Switzerland, with large, showy spring flowers and winter buds ringed by tiny offsets.

Pinguicula moranensis

Flypaper trap

The most widespread Mexican butterwort: broad, sticky summer leaves up to 13 cm long and large purple to violet flowers, replaced each dry season by a tight rosette of small succulent leaves.

Pinguicula primuliflora

Southern butterwort

Flypaper trap

A Gulf Coast butterwort of shady, spring-fed stream banks, with pale pink-and-white flowers and a habit of budding new plants from its leaf tips, which makes it one of the easiest butterworts to multiply.

Pinguicula vulgaris

Common butterwort

Flypaper trap

The most widespread butterwort, found from Iceland and Greenland across Europe, Siberia and northern North America. A small, flat rosette with purple flowers that spends the winter as a tight bud.

A leaf that works as flypaper

A butterwort is a flat rosette of soft leaves that look as if they were greased. The shine comes from two kinds of glands. Short-stalked glands hold up drops of sticky mucilage that trap small insects, and because the glands are stalked, the leaf surface itself is not smothered in slime while it waits [16]. Sessile glands lying flat on the leaf take part in digestion, and the leaf edge rolls, or is rolled, to keep the digestive fluid from running off [17]. In P. cyclosecta the summer leaves have permanently upturned edges for the same purpose [5].

The prey are small creatures such as fungus gnats [16, 5]. Adult gnats do stick to the leaves, but ICPS warns that their larvae chew on butterwort leaves that touch the soil and can badly damage small plants [8]. A 5 mm layer of coarse sand on the pot surface discourages egg-laying; see fungus gnats.

Unlike their relatives the bladderworts, butterworts have a true root system [2], though ICPS notes they do not have much in the way of roots or stems [10].

How many species, and where

WCVP accepts 129 species [1]. Specialists use smaller numbers: Fleischmann counted about 115 in 2021, and Shimai and colleagues write that most taxonomists recognize from 90 to just over 100 [4, 2]. The gap comes partly from recently described species that some authors merge with older ones [4].

The range covers Eurasia, North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Morocco, and Mexico alone has more than 40 species [2]. In the wild, butterworts usually occupy small, scattered sites on north-facing slopes, in gorges or under light forest cover, where they avoid heat [2].

Four cultivation groups

Growers sort butterworts by how they get through the unfavorable season. Shimai and colleagues describe three life forms, and DNA studies show that each one belongs to a particular evolutionary lineage [2]. ICPS adds a fourth, separate guide for P. alpina.

Group Survival strategy Mix in the ICPS guides Winter care
Mexican Dry-season rosette of small, succulent, non-carnivorous leaves (some species keep one leaf type) 1:1:1 peat, coarse sand, perlite, plus dolomitic lime Cooler and drier; let trays dry out for about a week between waterings
Warm temperate Same carnivorous leaves all year; no freezing adaptations 3 peat : 1 silica sand : 1 perlite, or pure peat Protect from freezing
Cold temperate Tight winter bud (hibernaculum) that survives freezing 2 peat : 1 sand : 1 perlite : 1 vermiculite Needs a real cold winter
Alpine (P. alpina) Winter bud that keeps its roots Limestone gravel and peat, 1:1 Needs a real cold winter

Sources for the table: the four ICPS guides [5, 12, 18, 11].

Mexican butterworts

Most Mexican species make slimy carnivorous leaves in summer and a rosette of small, succulent, non-carnivorous leaves for winter [5], an adaptation to dry winters [2]. ICPS stresses that they are not bog plants. The mix should match how you water: a heavier, water-holding mix for a dry house where pots stand in about 1 cm of water, and a lighter, often all-mineral mix for humid greenhouses with overhead watering [5]. They need seasonal light cues. A timer that lengthens and shortens the day gradually works; an unchanging photoperiod leaves species with two leaf types stuck in the non-carnivorous phase [5, 19]. P. moranensis is the best-known example.

ICPS also warns against any fungicide, including cinnamon, on any Pinguicula, and says some pesticides harm them too [5].

Warm temperate butterworts

These come from peaty bogs in warmer parts of the Northern Hemisphere [12], and six of them grow in the southeastern United States [13]. They are short-lived perennials. Apart from the self-pollinating P. lusitanica, they need hand pollination with a small brush, and ICPS advises saving seed because plants tend to flower themselves to death [12]. P. primuliflora is unusual in budding new plants from its leaf tips [13].

Cold temperate and alpine butterworts

In early autumn these species pull back into a winter bud [18]. P. vulgaris and P. grandiflora belong here. Without frost outdoors, the bud can be kept in a sealed bag in a refrigerator, a method Barry Rice used for boreal species in the Sonoran Desert [20].

Sources differ on the details. Mrkvicka recommended a 1:1 peat and sand mix, at least two months of rest at about 5°C, summers that do not stay above 23°C for long, and no repotting at all, to spare the roots [21]. ICPS uses a richer four-part mix and separates crowded young plants after their first winter [18], while Rice repotted about every second year, at the start of dormancy [20]. P. alpina needs the most care, because its winter buds keep thick, brittle roots and the plant can be lost if too many break [11]. The dormancy guide compares winter methods across genera.

Which butterworts suit beginners

ICPS calls the Mexican species among the easiest carnivorous plants and says that if you can grow African violets, you can grow most of them [5]. A bright window with some direct sun suits them [6]. Under LEDs ICPS rates both Mexican and temperate butterworts as “moderate light” plants, about 8,000 to 15,000 lux of white light, and warns that strong blue/red panels can be too much for the Mexican group [19]. See light for carnivorous plants.

Among warm temperate species, ICPS names P. lusitanica and P. pumila as the easiest [12]. Cold temperate species need either real winters or refrigerator space.

Hybrids follow the family tree

Older classifications sorted butterworts by flower shape and color. Fleischmann argues that this grouped unrelated species together and split close relatives, and he proposes sections that follow the DNA evidence instead [4]. In his experience the new sections also predict which crosses work. All Mexican species seem to be interfertile, which explains the many Mexican hybrids in cultivation, while P. alpina and P. lusitanica, each alone in its own section, could not be crossed with any other species [4]. ICPS shows P. ‘Pirouette’, a cross of P. agnata with P. moranensis × P. ehlersiae [5].

Propagation

Mexican species are easiest to multiply from leaf pullings, ideally taken in spring just as the first carnivorous leaves appear. Plantlets form in one to two months [10]. The leaf pullings guide gives the steps. Cold temperate seed needs 8 to 12 weeks at -10 to 5°C before it will germinate [18]; see cold stratification.

Conservation

P. ionantha, from the Florida panhandle, is listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act; the USFWS ECOS database gives a listing date of 12 July 1993 and lists P. planifolia as a species of concern [14]. NatureServe ranks P. ionantha imperiled (G2): about a quarter of its known populations have disappeared to development and habitat change, and fire suppression lets shrubs shade it out [22]. ICPS condemns collecting from the wild as unethical when nursery-grown plants are so easy to find [23].

Pinguicula species on this site

Profiled species link to their own page. The others are listed with a short sourced note because the published information is not yet enough for a full profile. Native ranges come from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants. The IUCN column links to each species' Red List assessment where one exists; this site does not reproduce Red List categories.

Select a column heading to sort. A dash in the IUCN column means no assessment is linked.
SpeciesNative range (WCVP)IUCN Red ListClimate groupNotes
Pinguicula agnata CasperMexico NortheastMexican montaneThick, elongated leaves and white flowers tinged blue; Powell found it easy and saw no distinct winter bud. It is the type species of section Agnata [3, 4].
Pinguicula alpina L.Austria, Baltic States, Buryatiya, China North-Central and 29 more regionsCold temperateChalky soils near springs, brooks and wet cliffs in the mountains of Europe and northern Asia; its winter bud keeps thick, fragile roots, so it needs very careful division [11].
Pinguicula caerulea WalterFlorida, Georgia, North Carolina, South CarolinaWarm temperateLarge violet flowers with dark veins; without flowers it is almost impossible to tell from P. lutea, which shares its Atlantic coastal range [13].
Pinguicula cyclosecta CasperMexico NortheastMexican montaneSummer leaves have upturned edges that keep digestive fluid from running off; winter leaves are tiny and succulent. Small plants are easily damaged by fungus gnat larvae [5, 8].
Pinguicula ehlersiae Speta & F.FuchsMexico NortheastMexican montaneRosettes only a few centimeters wide; the succulent winter leaves pull off easily for propagation, but a plant repotted in winter can fall apart [5, 10].
Pinguicula emarginata S.Z.Ruiz & Rzed.Mexico Central, Mexico GulfMexican montaneA small species, rosettes 9 to 10 cm across, whose compact winter rosette never turns succulent; notched flowers about 1 cm wide appear through much of the year [7].
Pinguicula esseriana B.Kirchn.Mexico NortheastMexican montaneVery succulent leaves; out of flower Powell could not tell it from P. ehlersiae, and Fleischmann places both in section Agnata [3, 4].
Pinguicula gigantea LuhrsMexico SouthwestMexican montaneKeeps carnivorous leaves all year (they only get smaller in winter), flowers in early winter, and its flowers do not turn toward the window; ICPS rates it a fine windowsill plant [5, 6].
Pinguicula grandiflora Lam.Large-flowered butterwortFrance, Ireland, Spain, SwitzerlandCold temperate
Pinguicula gypsicola BrandegeeMexico NortheastMexican montaneLong, narrow, pointed summer leaves and a tight winter rosette; Fleischmann notes its thread-like leaves are unusual among its succulent-leaved relatives in section Agnata [3, 4].
Pinguicula laueana Speta & F.FuchsMexico SouthwestMexican montaneRed flowers for about seven months a year in a Berkeley botanical garden collection, where it slowed down in cool winters rather than going fully dormant [9].
Pinguicula lusitanica L.Algeria, France, Great Britain, Ireland and 3 more regionsAssessmentWarm temperateAn annual that can flower about half a year after germination and pollinates itself, so it can become a weed in collections [12].
Pinguicula lutea WalterAlabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and 3 more regionsWarm temperateLarge bright yellow flowers; it colonizes slightly drier ground than P. caerulea, in open pine woods, savannas and sandy soils [13, 15].
Pinguicula moranensis KunthEl Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Central and 5 more regionsMexican montane
Pinguicula planifolia Chapm.Alabama, Florida, Georgia, MississippiWarm temperateGulf Coast species with rosettes 15 to 20 cm across, usually dark red to purple in full sun; listed by USFWS as a species of concern [13, 14].
Pinguicula primuliflora C.E.Wood & R.K.GodfreySouthern butterwortAlabama, Florida, Georgia, MississippiWarm temperate
Pinguicula vulgaris L.Common butterwortAlaska, Alberta, Austria, Baltic States and 53 more regionsAssessmentCold temperate

Guides that cover Pinguicula

Sources

  1. Pinguicula L.: World Checklist of Vascular Plants genus record (via GBIF). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; dataset published 2026-06-04, CC BY 4.0. Accepted species in the checklist: 129 (plus 2 named hybrids). Accessed October 12, 2026.
  2. Biogeographical patterns and speciation of the genus Pinguicula (Lentibulariaceae) inferred by phylogenetic analyses. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0252581 (2021), Shimai, Setoguchi, Roberts and Sun. Distribution, habitats, true roots, the three life-form groups, Mexican species count and endemism. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  3. Mexican Pings. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 16(4): 106-110 (1987), by Charles L. Powell II. Notes on P. agnata, P. esseriana, P. gypsicola and early hybrids. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  4. On the infrageneric classification of Pinguicula. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 50(4): 174-188 (2021), by Andreas Fleischmann. About 115 species; phylogeny-based sections; cross-compatibility within sections; monotypic sections of P. alpina and P. lusitanica. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  5. Growing Mexican Pinguicula. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Heterophylly, not bog plants, soil mixes and lime, tray watering, light cues, no fungicides, hummingbird pollination, P. gigantea. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  6. Window Sill Garden. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Mexican Pinguicula as house plants; P. gigantea flowers do not face the light. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  7. Pinguicula emarginata, a variable and distinctive Mexican species. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 27(4): 121-123 (1998), by Loyd Wix. Rosette size, non-succulent winter rosette, flower size and season. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  8. Fungus Gnat Larvae. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Larvae damage Pinguicula leaves touching the soil; 5 mm coarse sand top layer. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  9. Judith Finn on growing Pinguicula laueana. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 28(4): 126-127 (1999), by Barry Meyers-Rice. Flowering period and winter behavior in cultivation. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  10. Mexican Pinguicula Leaf Pullings. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Two leaf forms, best season for pullings, 1 to 2 months to plantlets, P. ehlersiae and P. gigantea handling. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  11. Growing Pinguicula alpina. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Habitat, limestone gravel mix, fragile roots on winter buds. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  12. Growing warm temperate Pinguicula. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Same leaves all year, short-lived perennials, hand pollination, 3:1:1 peat mix, P. lusitanica and P. pumila as easiest. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  13. A photographic primer of the Pinguiculas of the southeastern United States. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 12(2): 41-44 (1983), by Donald E. Schnell. Identification of the six southeastern US species. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  14. ECOS species report: Pinguicula taxa under the Endangered Species Act. US Fish and Wildlife Service. P. ionantha Threatened (listing date 12 July 1993); P. planifolia species of concern. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  15. Pinguicula lutea, Yellow Butterwort. NatureServe Explorer. Habitat comments. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  16. Carnivorous Plant Trapping Mechanisms. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Short-stalked mucilage glands on Pinguicula leaves. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  17. Carnivorous Plant Digestion and Nutrient Assimilation. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Pinguicula leaves roll to hold digestive fluid; phosphatase in sessile glands. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  18. Growing cold temperate Pinguicula. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Winter buds, acid peat mix, 8 to 12 weeks of cold for seed. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  19. LED Plant Lighting. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Moderate light (about 8,000 to 15,000 lux) for Mexican and temperate Pinguicula; seasonal day length. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  20. Cold Pinguicula in a hot climate. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 31(1): 25-27 (2002), by Barry Meyers-Rice. Refrigerator dormancy for hibernacula-forming species. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  21. European Pinguicula species: taxonomy, distribution, cultural conditions. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 19(1-2): 41-43 (1990), by Alexander Mrkvicka. Two cultivation regimes for European species, with and without winter buds. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  22. Pinguicula ionantha, Violet-flowered Butterwort. NatureServe Explorer. G2; Florida panhandle endemic; loss of occurrences; threats. Accessed October 12, 2026.
  23. Conservation Policies. International Carnivorous Plant Society. Field collection condemned as unethical. Accessed October 12, 2026.