Common butterwort - Pinguicula vulgaris

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Common butterwort - Pinguicula vulgaris
© Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature

This is an insectivorous plant, one of only a handful of such species found in Britain. The attractive violet flowers are suspended on a long leafless stem. It has a basal rosette of thick, buttery leaves spread out in starfish fashion on open wet ground.

The sticky leaves catch flies and other small insects, curling round them to begin the slow process of digesting them with the help of acid-containing glands. The insects are probably dead by then, having died of suffocation when their respiratory spiracles became glued up. This is a plant that likes wet ground and may be suitable for a bog garden with plenty of small flies and midges. Bees take nectar from this plant.

Animals

Bees and wasps, Flies

Foliage	Yellow
Flower	Purple, May to July
Moisture	(Wet)
Sunlight	(Full sun)
Origin	Native