Description
The large-flowered butterwort(Pinguicula grandiflora Lam.) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the Lentibulariaceae family belonging to the genus
Pinguicula
(the butterworts).
The large-flowered butterwort is a terrestrial plant of pastures, wet rocks and mountain bogs.
Pinguicula grandifolia is distinguished by its imposing purple flowers.
Description
Large-flowered butterwort has soft green, oblong leaves with glandular hairs.
The flowers are 3 to 5 cm long, zygomorphic and have a varied color palette. Usually deep blue, it can be pale blue in Pinguicula grandiflora subsp. grandiflora f. pallida or pink in Pinguicula grandiflora subsp. rosea (Mutel) Casper. Individuals with completely white flowers described as Pinguicula grandiflora subsp. grandiflora f. chionopetra exist in a population in Ireland as well as near Barèges in the French Pyrenees, or in an isolated way, in the Basque Country.
It is a carnivorous plant. It has a so-called semi-active system: the leaves are covered with glue that traps the insects that land on them and are then digested by the secreted juices.
Biotope
It is a plant of mountain which appreciates the very wet grounds and the peaty grounds, the pastures and wet rocks of the high mountains.
Location
It is found in the meadows of the mountains Pyrenees in France, Andorra and Spain and even in the Catalan Corbières1 but also in Ireland, in the Jura in France and in Switzerland, in the Bugeyin the Alps in France (Alps of Savoie and Haute Savoie (Glières, Col du Cable), Dauphiné, Provence) and in Italy, as well as in the Central Massif.
