Q: Where do butterworts (Pinguicula) live?




Pinguicula A: In Canada and the USA, there are nine Pinguicula (butterwort) species:

If you want to see the tiny arctic P. villosa, you must travel north---in North America it only occurs in northern Canada and Alaska.

As is the theme for carnivorous plants in Canada and the USA, the southeastern USA is the place to go to see many species Pinguicula. However, Pinguicula vulgaris is quite hospitable to our interests by occurring much farther north than most species, so if you are in the Great Lakes area you can look for it.

• P. caerulea,
  North Carolina
• P. lutea,
  Mississippi
• P. macroceras,
  California
• P. pumila,
  South Carolina

Far to the west you can look for Pinguicula macroceras. The differences between Pinguicula macroceras and Pinguicula vulgaris confuse me, and I won't go into them here. They are made even more confounding by several small, outlying populations in the Pinguicula macroceras range with peculiar characteristics. Very tricky, these plants.

P.S. Sorry about the sloppy rendering of the northward edge of the Great Lakes---my maps didn't have those for some fool reason. As always, consider my range maps to be generalizations.

Page citations: Lamb, R. 1991; Rice, B.A. 2006a; Rondeau, J.H. 1991; Schnell, D.E. 1976, 2002a; personal observation.