E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of BC

Pinguicula vulgaris subsp. macroceras (Link) Calder & Tayl.
common butterwort
Lentibulariaceae (Bladderwort family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

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General:
Insect-eating perennial herb from a fibrous root; stems erect, simple, solitary to few, 3-16 cm tall, glabrous to minutely hairy, the hairs club-shaped.

Leaves:
Basal leaves 5-7, simple, entire, fleshy, lance-elliptic, 1.5-5 cm long, 7-24 mm wide, glabrous below, glabrous or slimy-glandular above (where small insects are digested), margins inrolled; stem leaves lacking.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of single flowers; corollas funnel-like, dark violet-blue, rarely white, 15-25 mm long, with a spur, white hairs in the throat, the lobes of the lower lip oblong to egg-shaped; calyces lobed, 3-5 mm long.

Fruits:
Capsules, 4-6 mm long, erect.

Notes:
Two closely related and intergrading subspecies occur in BC:

1. Corolla lobes of the lower lip oblong to nearly egg-shaped, more or less covering each other, or at least touching; lower lip of the calyces split up to half their length.....................ssp. macroceras (Link) Calder & Tayl.

1. Corolla lobes of the lower lip oblong, not covering or touching each other; lower lip of the calyces split up to 2/3 of their length...................ssp. vulgaris

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Bogs, fens, swamps, and mossy seeps in all but the alpine zone; ssp. Macroseras infrequent on the coast and rare inland; ssp. vulgaris frequent in N BC, infrequent in S BC; ssp macroceras – amphiberingian, to AK and SW YT and S to CA; E Asia; ssp vulgaris – circumboreal, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NY and VT; Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Scientific Name	Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Pinguicula vulgaris ssp. macroceras	Native	S5	Yellow	Not Listed
Pinguicula vulgaris ssp. vulgaris	Native	S4	Yellow	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer.

1. Leaves solitary or 2; scapes glandular long-hairy; corollas pale bluish-violet, less than 10 mm long..............................Pinguicula villosa

1. Leaves 5-7; scapes glabrous or obscurely glandular; corolla dark bluish-violet, more than 1.5 mm long................................Pinguicula vulgaris

2. Corola lobes of the lower lip oblong to nearly egg-shaped, more or less covering each other, or at least touching; lower lip of the calyces split up to half their length................ssp. macrocerus

2. Corolla lobes of the lower lip oblong, not covering or touching each other; lower lip of the calyces split up to 2/3 of their length.......................ssp. vulgaris

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