NORTHERN BUTTERWORT 



Pinguicula vulgaris Linnaeus 



The bright purple flowers of the northern butterwort suggest 

 violets to the casual observer, but on closer examination the plant 

 proves to be very different in its structural details. Its flowers are borne 

 well above the yellow-green waxy leaves, which are greasy to the 

 touch, and form a rosette at the base of the slender flower stems. Like 

 rennet, the leaves of northern butterwort will cause milk to coagu- 

 late. The plant always grows in a wet situation, usually in alkaline 

 soil, in swampy places, on wet, gravelly flats, or by the edges of 

 streams. Butterwort belongs to a small group of insectivorous plants, 

 related to the fig worts, and with the bladderworts constitutes a special 

 family. 



Northern butterwort has a wide range, from Vermont northward 

 to Greenland, and west to California and Alaska. It occurs also in 

 Europe and Asia. Related species grow in the peat bogs of the south- 

 eastern United States. 



The specimen sketched was found in the Bow River Valley, six- 

 teen miles west of Banff, Alberta, Canada, at an altitude of 4,000 feet. 



PLATE 198 



