More butterworts

After the trip to Königssee, I was inspired to retail therapy and bought myself as many butterworts as Hampshire Carnivorous Plants could supply:

Butterwort collection [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]

OCPD butterwort collection (Pinguicula cv. Tina, P. cv. Wesser, P. agnata, P. cyclosecta, P. esseriana)

They did me proud over this summer, with two of them flowering despite the root disturbance (on which butterworts are not keen), the chunky cultivar ‘Tina’:

Pinguicula cv. Tina flowers [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]

Pinguicula cv. Tina flowering

and the daintier species P. esseriana:

Pinguicula esseriana flowers [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]

Pinguicula esseriana

In winter, a lot of butterwort species give up on making large, sticky, carnivorous leaves, and instead produce compact non-carnivorous rosettes that look a bit like houseleeks:

Pinguicula cyclosecta winter rosette [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]

Pinguicula cyclosecta winter rosette, remains of carnivorous summer rosette slowly composting away

Carnivory is not free, so this is probably an adaptation to the lack of insect prey available during the winter months.

When I grow up I want one of these.

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