The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Pinguicula grandiflora

Etymology

grandiflora: large flowered

Common Name(s)

butterwort

Authority

Pinguicula grandiflora Lam.

Family

Lentibulariaceae

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.

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

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

Year Naturalised

2008

Origin

Western Europe

Reason for Introduction

Ornamental plant

Control Techniques

Not controlled in New Zealand.

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Reproduces by clonal spread after deliberate planting.

This page last updated on 16 Jan 2019