Pinguicula lutea Walter

Yellow Butterwort

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Yellow Butterwort is a native herbaceous perennial in the Bladderwort family (Lentibulariaceae). It is found in the southern most counties of the state. It grows in very wet and sunny locations such as seeps, spring runs, and bogs. Yellow Butterwort is a perennial with a poorly developed fibrous root system. Leaves form a basal rosette. The leaves are sessile, ovate to elliptic in outline, glandular, with entire margins. The leaves are a yellowish-green color and the sides of the margins of the leaves are often revolute (rolled up). Flowers are solitary on a leafless glandular stalk (scape). The corolla has an expanded portion with 5 notched lobes. The corolla is bright yellow with a mass of yellow club-shaped hairs in the throat. The tube of the corolla is short and ends with a downward pointing spur. The tube and spur are yellow with reddish lines. The fruit is a capsule with many small brown seed. Like all members of the Lentibulariaceae, Yellow Butterwort is insectivorous. The leaves are covered with tiny glands which secrete a sticky fluid, giving the leaves a shiny appearance. Pinguia is Latin for “fat” and refers to the shiny appearance of the leaves. When an insect encounters the leaf it becomes trapped in this sticky fluid. As it struggles it comes into contact with more of the glands and eventually suffocates as it is covered with the fluid. The plant then secretes digestive enzymes that dissolve the soft parts of the prey. The Butterwort then absorbs the nutrients, especially nitrogen which in lacking in the acidic sandy soil where this plant grows. Yellow Butterwort is available from nurseries that specialize in insectivorous plants and should not be collected from the wild. It can be grown in a bog garden or terrarium.—A. Diamond

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Native FACW+ (NWPL)

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