Plant of the day is: Pinguicula primuliflora or primrose butterwort
Another southeastern species. Somebody keeps bringing all these plants in from that region...hmmmm. Said person piqued my interest discussing its dormancy today, so here we are. One of the butterworts, a really neat group of plants I have been remiss to address.
Taxonomy etc.: A member of the bladderwort family actually. Lentibulariaceae ...really rolls off the tongue right? Say that one five times fast. A fairly small family in terms of genera with only Pinguicula, Genlisea (corkscrew plants) and Utricularia (the bladderworts), and Isoloba. The bladderworts are well worth a look and perhaps soon they'll have their time to shine as well, they're quite fascinating in their underwater capture methods. From a genetic standpoint, members of this family originally evolved the ability to secrete proteinase mucilage as a deterrent to insect predation and then later further evolved to adsorb nutrients from captured prey. The family contains about 312 accepted species. The Pinguicula genus contains about 73 accepted species. For a very nice description of family characteristics visit Tropical Biodiversity. One fun fact is that it is the most species rich family of carnivorous plants. Worth noting that there are both tropical and temperate members in the genus so they adapt to those changes quite differently. Also...not all of them are carnivorous P. cyclosecta for example.
Pinguicula primuliflora at the University of Washington greenhouse collections (CC BY-SA 4.0) photo by Ryan Kitko
Description: Herbaceous perennial. Leaf margins are entire, forming a rosette, I'm saying fairly oblong and rounded at the tip and about 6-9cm long. Flowers are kind of a light purple to pink. When germinating and establishing there is a single ephemeral root that then disappears to be replaced by adventitious roots. Neat. The roots mainly just absorb water and help anchor the plant. They get their nutrients through their sticky leaves that trap small gnats and insects. Yum. The leaves are covered in tiny hairs that secrete said mucilagenous (I like that word...) liquid. Worth noting that the scapes also have hairs and can trap insects, why waste a meal on a flower?? They also form new plantlets from the tips of their leaves...cooooool. I wanna see that. Very detailed description here. I do not believe this species grows different leaves in the winter... :(. Maybe we'll get a hold of some that do though.
Pinguicula vulgaris Illustration (Public Domain)
Distribution/Culture: Typically found on the extreme southern coast areas starting in Louisiana stretching through the panhandle. While most Pinguicula prefer very moist soil, these prefer it VERY wet, near to growing in water even. In terms of soil, broadly, they prefer similar soils to most carnivorous plants: acidic and poor. Combinations of peat, sphagnum, and sand should be included in a growing mix. High light exposure is kind of their thing too. I'm unsure if you can use similar methods to Drosera to feed them in lieu of insects. Finely ground betabites fish food is probably an option though...I'd wager. They do require a dormancy in the winter and need to be kept fairly cool (above freezing) for several months.
nice post! I just like saying pinguicula . . .
ReplyDeleteThat makes two of us! :P
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