Pinguicula grandiflora
Common names
Butterwort
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Simplified description
Small yellow-green coloured herb, with leaves lying close to the ground arising from a central point (like a dandelion), sticky to the touch, curled upwards at the margins, up to 8 cm long, flowers showy, purple or violet with a white mark on the throat up to 2 cm across and 3 cm long produced singly on stalk up to 20 cm long.
Flower colours
Purple, White
Detailed description
Perennial herb with all leaves forming a basal rosette, all parts (except the corolla) clothed in sticky glandular hairs adapted to ensnare insects. Overwinters as a rootless bud. Leaves entire, sessile, margins involute, 2-8 cm long, ovate-oblong, yellow-green. Flower solitary on naked scape 3-20 cm long. Calyx lobes ovate or oblong, upper lip divided nearly to base. Corolla 15-20 x 25-30 mm, violet with large cuneate white patch at the mouth, lower lip broader than long, with shallow lobes, spur 10 mm directed backwards. Capsule subglobose, not seen in New Zealand material.
Similar taxa
No other butterworts or similar plants are known to be naturalised in New Zealand.
Distribution
Known from one site on the Coromandel Peninsula; also in and close to Tongariro National Park.
Habitat
Seepage and trackside drain in regenerating manuka scrub (Coromandel); peat bog with Empodisma and Gleichenia (Tongariro Nat. Park).
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November to January
Fruiting
N/A
Year naturalised
2008
Origin
Western Europe
Reason for introduction
Ornamental plant
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Life cycle and dispersal
Reproduces by clonal spread after deliberate planting.
Other information
Etymology
grandiflora: Large flowered
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1962). Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Second Edition. 1269pp.
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA).