Pinguicula grandiflora
Common name
Butterwort
Family
Lentibulariaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Conservation status
Not applicable
Brief 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.
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).
Features
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.
Flowering
November to January
Flower colours
Purple, White
Fruiting
N/A
Life cycle
Reproduces by clonal spread after deliberate planting.
Year naturalised
2008
Origin
Western Europe
Reason for introduction
Ornamental plant
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Etymology
grandiflora: Large flowered
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA).
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.