New butterworts

TerraForums once again hosted an auction to benefit the North American Sarracenia Conservancy. It's a great way to get rid of excess plant material and acquire some new plants, all for a very good cause. I put up a few plants, including a Lecanopteris mirabilis, Myrmecodia sp., and a Drosera graomogolensis. But I couldn't resist bidding! Now that my orchid collection is outpacing my carnivorous plant collection, I thought I'd even things out by bidding on some Pinguicula, commonly called butterworts.

I ended up winning a P. gigantea, P. esseriana, P. laueana, and a P. rotundiflora. I also recently acquired a P. reticulata in a trade.

P. gigantea

P. gigantea is, you guessed it, a big one, reaching 9-10 inches in diameter. It is unique in that both sides of its leaves are sticky (most butterworts produce mucilage and digestive enzymes only on the upper sides of their leaves). Mine is just a small division... for now.

 The other newbies:

P. rotundiflora

P. reticulata

P. laueana

P. esseriana

With all these new butterworts, I decided to pot everything, including my older plants, together in a bonsai pot. It will save some space and I rather like the look of Pinguicula community pots. Here's what the whole thing looks like:

These Pinguicula hail from Mexico and have two distinct seasonal growth patterns. In the winter, when they need much less water, they form tight rosettes of succulent leaves. In the spring, they begin to form their wide, glistening carnivorous leaves.

P. 'Seductora' beginning to make carnivorous leaves. Many Mexican butterworts will flush pink or red in good light.

Unlike Drosera, Utricularia, and some other carnivorous plants, Pinguicula don't need as much water, even in their carnivorous phase. Consequently, many growers pot them up in coarse, well-draining mixes. Mine are in a mix of turface, lava rock, perlite, and a little peat. There are almost as many mixes as there are growers and I've had success growing them in the 50/50 mix of peat and perlite that is standard for most carnivorous plants. Anyway, they're quite easy to grow and make lovely flowers, so they're a good choice for beginners.