Large-flowered butterwort

A carnivore with honeyed leaves

The large-flowered butterwort is a small carnivorous plant that forms a rosette of fleshy leaves, glossy yellowish-green and greasy to the touch. That sticky film is no ornament: it is a veil of glue on which small insects become trapped. The leaves, with no moving parts, work like living flypaper and digest their prey thanks to glands scattered over the surface. Its most striking feature, though, is the flowers: large violet spurred blooms, much wider than the genus average, borne on erect stalks.

Habitat and distribution

It is native to the mountains of Europe, particularly the Pyrenees and the Alps, but also occurs in Ireland and other cool, damp temperate regions. It grows in bogs, wet meadows, springs and dripping rock faces, on poor soils where catching insects makes up for the scarcity of nitrogen.

Life cycle and cultivation

It is a perennial of cool climates: in winter the summer rosette withdraws into a small, compact resting bud (hibernaculum), from which it resprouts in spring, when it flowers. In cultivation it needs plenty of light, a poor, always-moist substrate watered with mineral-free water, and cool temperatures with a winter rest. It is prized by enthusiasts for combining carnivory with fine flowers.

Curiosities

The sticky leaves have traditionally been used in some areas to curdle milk, exploiting their enzymes. Butterworts are related to the bladderworts, other famous carnivores.

Conservation

The species is of no particular concern where common, but it depends on mountain wetlands, fragile habitats threatened by drainage and disturbance. Plants for sale should come from cultivation.