Common Butterwort
Common Butterwort
Carnivorous Plant
A bog plant with greasy, 'buttery' leaves that work like sticky flypaper — catching small flies and slowly curling over them to digest a meal the poor soil cannot provide.
💡 Fun Facts
- Its flat, yellow-green leaves feel greasy and buttery — which is how it got its name — and that greasy sheen is really a sticky glue for catching small flies.
- When an insect lands and gets stuck, the edges of the leaf slowly roll inwards over it, trapping it while the leaf digests its meal.
- It grows a pretty violet flower on a tall stalk, kept well above the deadly leaves so that the bees pollinating it do not get caught.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:May to July
- Dormant:October to March
Name Story
Pinguicula vulgaris
means “the common little greasy one”
What does its name mean?
- Pinguicula — little greasy oneLatin pinguis ‘fat, greasy’ + -cula ‘little’
- vulgaris — commonLatin vulgaris ‘common, found everywhere’Decode this word →
Its leaves feel buttery and greasy to the touch — and that slippery sheen is secretly sticky, just right for trapping the tiny insects that land on them.