Pinguicula lutea

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Pinguicula lutea
Pinguicula lutea.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lentibulariaceae
Genus: Pinguicula
Species:
P. lutea
Binomial name
Pinguicula lutea

Pinguicula lutea, commonly known as the yellow butterwort, is a species of warm-temperate carnivorous plant in the family Lentibulariaceae. It grows in savannas and sandy bog areas of the Southeastern United States.

Pinguicula lutea’s flower is usually in a bright yellow or a straw-yellow color and very rare in white color. [1] Like all the insectivorous plants of the genus Pinguicula, P. lutea traps small insects by using specialized glands on the surface of its basal rosette leaves.

Distribution

Pinguicula lutea lives along the Gulf Coastal plain of the south-east USA. It is commonly found in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Southeast Louisiana. [2]

Habitat

Pinguicula lutea thrives in a drier environment as compare to other Pinguicula that live in the South. It prefers to grow on poor nutritive soil and in acidic bogs with the pH ranges from 5.0 to 6.0. [3] The soil is mix of half peat moss and half sand. Partial shade areas like open pine wood, marshes, moist savannas, and sandy soils are favorable by P. lutea.

Leaves

Pinguicula lutea is a perennial herbaceous plant. The leaves of P. lutea are yellowish-green basal rosettes. The simple shape leaf blade displaces from ovule to oblong. [4] P. lutea has curved leaves and pointed tip. The size of a mature leaf is around 5 to 7.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. [4] The diameter of an entire rosette can up to 15 cm. The fleshy surfaces of the leaves are covered with numerous sticky droplets called the mucilage. The mucilage is secreted by the peduncular gland on the top of each stalk. Small insects often get trapped by the glandular stalks for mistaking the mucilage as water drops. [5] Once the prey is stuck on the droplets, a digestive enzyme is released to extract nitrogen from the insect. The margin of the leaves also slowly roll inward and relax again after the digestion is complete. [5] Like many carnivorous plants, this trapping mechanism allows the plant to seek supplement nitrogen sources from the insect as a way to replace the nutrient-deficient habitat.

Flowers and fruits

Flowers of P. lutea open from February to May. P. lutea produces yellow solitary flowers each with five irregular petals and five sepals. [4] A flower petal has one to several notches. One of the petals extended all the way down to the back and forms a 1 cm long slender spur. [4] This structure holds the nectar. Usually, only pollinators that have a long tongue can reach the nectar. [5] The size of the flowers ranges from 1 to 3 cm. The flower is held slightly upright on one of the long stalks that come from the basal rosette. P. lutea can produce multiple flower stalks in spring and can reach as high as 50 cm. [6] Both the stalk and the sepals of the P. lutea are covered with fine hairs. After a flower is pollinated by a pollinator, the flower develops into a rough capsule. Within the capsule there are small seeds with a diameter of 8mm. [4]

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<i>Darlingtonia californica</i> Species of carnivorous plant

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<i>Byblis</i> (plant) Genus of carnivorous plants

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<i>Roridula</i> Insect-trapping shrublet from South Africa

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<i>Pinguicula moranensis</i> Perennial insectivorous herb in the family Lentibulariaceae

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<i>Drosera anglica</i> Species of carnivorous flowering plant in the family Droseraceae

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<i>Pinguicula gypsicola</i> Species of carnivorous plant

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<i>Pinguicula alpina</i> Species of plant

Pinguicula alpina, also known as the alpine butterwort, is a species of carnivorous plant native to high latitudes and altitudes throughout Eurasia. It is one of the most widespread Pinguicula species, being found in mountainous regions from Iceland to the Himalayas. Native to cold climates, it is a temperate species, forming prostrate rosettes of green to red leaves and white flowers in the summer and a tight hibernaculum during a period of winter dormancy in the winter. Like all members of the genus, P. alpina uses mucilaginous glands covering the surface of its summer leaves to attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey.

<i>Pinguicula primuliflora</i> Species of plant

Pinguicula primuliflora, commonly known as the southern butterwort or primrose butterwort, is a species of carnivorous plant belonging to the genus Pinguicula. It is native to the southeastern United States. The typical variety forms a white flower in blooming. Like other butterworts, it has sticky adhesive leaves which attract, capture and digest arthropod prey in order to supply the plant with nutrients such as nitrogen not found in the nutrient poor, acidic soil that it grows in. Its name derives from the fact it is usually the first one to flower in the spring.

<i>Pinguicula vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant in the bladderwort family Lentibulariaceae

Pinguicula vulgaris, the common butterwort, is a perennial carnivorous plant in the bladderwort family, Lentibulariaceae.

<i>Pinguicula longifolia</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula longifolia, commonly known as the long-leaved butterwort, is a perennial carnivorous subalpine plant of the Central Pyrenees, found on both sides of the border. It catches its prey by using its modified leaves that lie on the ground and have “densely covered stalked glands that bear a droplet of sticky mucilage on its top.” The need to capture arthropods is driven by the lack of nutrients present in the soil. P. l. subsp. longifolia obtain their nutrition primarily from flying insects, mainly diptera, which replenished the carnivorous plant with nitrogen. P. l. subsp. longifolia grows in wet shady areas and on vertical or overhanging limestone walls. It has been found at altitudes between 700 – 1900 meters. In the spring, the winter buds open and the first carnivorous leaves present themselves. These leaves are then followed by the flowers in early summer. Throughout summer the leaves can grow up to 14 cm in length and have glands present on both sides of the leaves, which is highly characteristic of P. l. subsp. longifolia. More carnivorous leaves arise throughout summer, and when the conditions become unfavourable, around autumn, a protective winter casing composed of scale like leaves is produced, in the centre of the rosette, called the hibernacula, also known as the plant bud. The leaves halt production and the old leaves wither and decay; P. l. subsp. longifolia is now ready for the winter dormancy. There must be optimal growth during the summer for P. l. subsp. longifolia, otherwise they produce weakened hibernacula which rot very easily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnivorous plant</span> Plants that consume animals

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods, and occasionally small mammals and birds. They still generate all of their energy from photosynthesis. They have adapted to grow in waterlogged sunny places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs. They can be found on all continents except Antarctica, as well as many Pacific islands. In 1875, Charles Darwin published Insectivorous Plants, the first treatise to recognize the significance of carnivory in plants, describing years of painstaking research.

<i>Drosera uniflora</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Drosera uniflora is a species in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera that is native to southern Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. It is a tiny sundew with a solitary white flower as its name would suggest. Stalked glands on its leaves, which secrete sticky mucilage at the tips, are used to capture and hold insect prey, from which the plant derives the nutrients it cannot obtain in sufficient quantity from the soil. It was formally described in 1809 by botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow.

<i>Pinguicula orchidioides</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula orchidioides is a perennial rosette-forming insectivorous herb native to Mexico and Guatemala. A species of butterwort, it forms summer rosettes of flat, succulent leaves up to 5 centimeters (2 in) long, which are covered in mucilaginous (sticky) glands that attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey. Nutrients derived from the prey are used to supplement the nutrient-poor substrate that the plant grows in. Uniquely among Pinguicula species from the Americas, p. orchidioides produces gemma-like basal buds which elongate into stolons and serve as a means of asexual reproduction. In the winter the plant forms a non-carnivorous rosette of small, fleshy leaves that conserves energy while food and moisture supplies are low. Single purple flowers appear between July and September on upright stalks up to 22 centimeters long.

<i>Pinguicula elizabethiae</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula elizabethiae is a perennial rosette-forming insectivorous herb native to the Mexican states of Querétaro and Hidalgo. A species of butterwort, it forms summer rosettes of flat, succulent leaves up to 5 centimeters (4 in) long, which are covered in mucilaginous (sticky) glands that attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey. Nutrients derived from the prey are used to supplement the nutrient-poor substrate that the plant grows in. In the winter the plant forms a non-carnivorous rosette of small, fleshy leaves that conserves energy while food and moisture supplies are low. Single purple flowers appear between July and October on upright stalks up to 75 millimeters long.

<i>Pinguicula</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae

Pinguicula, commonly known as butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environment. Of the roughly 80 currently known species, 13 are native to Europe, 9 to North America, and some to northern Asia. The largest number of species is in South and Central America.

<i>Pinguicula ionantha</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula ionantha is a rare species of flowering plant in the butterwort family known by the common names Godfrey's butterwort and violet butterwort. It is endemic to the US state of Florida, where it only occurs in the central Florida Panhandle. It is threatened by the loss of its habitat, and it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.

<i>Pinguicula filifolia</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula filifolia, is a carnivorous species of plant found predominantly in western Cuba and some of the neighboring regions. It was discovered by Charles Wright in 1866. It is a tropical plant that uses sticky secretions on its leaves to catch small insects, pollen, and other plant debris to help supplement its own nutrition. It thrives in swamp like white sand savannahs with high temperatures and humidity.

<i>Pinguicula macroceras</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Pinguicula macroceras, the California butterwort or horned butterwort, is a species of perennial carnivorous herb that is native to the North American Pacific coast, as well as other select distributions in Canada, Russia, Japan, and the United States.[3] [7] Common names include California butterwort, horned butterwort and butterwort. Pinguicula macroceras belongs to the genus Pinguicula and the family Lentibulariaceae.

<i>Pinguicula pumila</i> Species of plant

Pinguicula pumila, commonly known as the small butterwort or dwarf butterwort is a small species of carnivorous plant in the genus Pinguicula. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it grows in habitats where soil is poor in nutrition.

References

  1. Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, January 2011
  2. Sagebud, Yellow Butterwort (Pinguicula Lutea), April 28, 2012
  3. Carolina Carnivores, Yellow Butterwort-Pinguicula Lutea, 2004
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 eNature, Yellow Butterwort, 2007
  5. 1 2 3 "Botanical Society of America, the Butterworts, April 28,2012". Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  6. Native Plant Database,Pinguicula lutea Walt., 2012