page_title: Pinguicula
section_title: Flowers
hierarchical_section_title: Pinguicula / Characteristics / Flowers
caption_attribution_description: Description: Pinguicula, unknown hybrid (from Leo Song's collection). Photo by: Noah Elhardt Location: CalState Fullerton
context_page_description: Pinguicula, commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environment. Of the roughly 80 currently known species, 13 are native to Europe, 9 to North America, and some to northern Asia. The largest number of species is in South and Central America.
context_section_description: As with almost all carnivorous plants, the flowers of butterworts are held far above the rest of the plant by a long stalk, in order to reduce the probability of trapping potential pollinators. The single, long-lasting flowers are zygomorphic, with two lower lip petals characteristic of the bladderwort family, and a spur extending from the back of the flower. The calyx has five sepals, and the petals are arranged in a two-part lower lip and a three-part upper lip. Most butterwort flowers are blue, violet or white, often suffused with a yellow, greenish or reddish tint. P. laueana and the newly described P. caryophyllacea are unique in having a strikingly red flowers. Butterworts are often cultivated and hybridized primarily for their flowers.
  The shape and colors of butterwort flowers are distinguishing characteristics which are used to divide the genus into subgenera and to distinguish individual species from one another.
caption: The flower of a hybrid butterwort
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