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Pinguicula pumila
Small Butterwort
Florida native
A frequent plant of flatwoods throughout most of Florida. The range extends through the southeastern coastal states from North Carolina to Texas, plus Oklahoma.
The butterworts have basal rosettes of small succulent leaves with an upper sticky surface and curled edges to trap insects for this carnivorous plant. Pinguicula pumila has small white, sometimes blue, violet, or pink, flowers on top of a leafless stalk, or scape, which is covered with tiny glandular trichomes. This species can be differentiated from the others of the genus in Florida by not having a palate that extends beyond the throat of the corolla, as well as the small size of the flower, less than 1.8 cm ( ~3/4 in.) in length, including the spur. Small butterworts bloom mostly in winter and spring.
An extreme close-up photo of a small butterwort flower (see "Small Butterwort" below) won honorable mention in the "Florida Invertebrates and/or Wildflowers" category of the Orange Audubon Society's 2009 Kit & Sidney Chertok Nature Photography Contest.
Pinguicula pumila is a member of the Lentibulariaceae - Bladderwort family.
Other species of the Pinguicula genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Pinguicula lutea - YELLOW BUTTERWORT
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Feb 27, 2021
