PURPLE BUTTERWORT 



Pinguicula elatior Michaux 



Purple butterwort is a dainty and beautiful plant. It grows in 

 moist sandy pine woods on the Coastal Plain, often in association 

 with other purple or yellow butterworts. Although in Florida it 

 may be found in flower at almost any season, it blooms most profusely 

 in spring. The solitary flower is poised at the top of a slender stalk 

 springing from the center of a rosette of pale green leaves, which 

 usually lie flat against the sand. They feel greasy to the touch because 

 they are covered with myriads of minute glands. The exudation 

 from the glands entraps small insects which alight on the leaf sur- 

 face, and these helplessly entangled creatures are held closely by the 

 inrolled margins of the leaf blade, to be digested and assimilated as 

 food. The butterworts are all terrestrial plants, but they belong to 

 the same family as the bladderworts, many of which are aquatic. 



This species of butterwort is common in Florida and adjoining 

 States, but appears to be unable to withstand cold weather. It has 

 not migrated farther north than southern North Carolina. Curiously 

 enough one of its close relatives is intolerant of warm climates, 

 and though occurring through much of Canada, has not reached 

 farther south than central New York. 



The specimen sketched was brought into flower in the green- 

 houses of the United States Department of Agriculture in Wash- 

 ington, from specimens obtained in Florida. 



PLATE Z35 



