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Pinguicula vulgaris

Common name:	Butterwort	Family:	Lentibulariaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe, including Britain, from Iceland south and east to Spain, Macedonia and N. Asia. N. America.
Habitat:	Boggy soils on wet rocks and damp places, avoiding shady places[17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	P. vulgaris var. americana[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Butterwort [E,H], Common Butterwort [B,FEIS,L,MS,P], Erba Da Taglio [E], Grasilla [E], Marsh Violet [H], Sanicle [E], Vetblad [D], Yorkshire Sanicle [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	vulgaris = common
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Scrophulariales. Bladderwort family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Britain Europe Italy Spain

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.08m. It is hardy to zone 3. It is in flower from May to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires wet soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Bog Garden.

Edible Uses

Curdling agent.

The plant can be used to curdle plant milks[46, 61, 66]. The milk is poured over a strainer on which fresh leaves of butterwort have been laid. The milk is then left for a day or two until it sours when it becomes solid like yoghurt and is considered to be most delicious. A small quantity of the milk can be kept to inoculate further batches[183]. Another report says that the leaves are infused in the milk for some time[115].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antispasmodic Antitussive Homeopathy.

Butterwort is little used in contemporary herbal medicine, though it was commonly used in the past as a purgative in Wales[254]. Its main application is as a cough remedy[254].
The leaves are antispasmodic and antitussive[7, 13]. The plant is an effective treatment for whooping cough[7]. Used externally as a poultice, it has a healing effect on the skin[7]. The leaves are harvested in early summer as the plant comes into flower and are dried for later use[7].
A homeopathic remedy is made from the plant[9]. It is used in the treatment of whooping cough and nervous throat irritations[9].

Other Uses

Dye.

A colouring substance is obtained from the leaves[7].

Cultivation details

Requires a boggy soil[1]. Because of their insectivorous habit, plants are able to succeed on soils very deficient in nitrogen.
Butterwort is an insectivorous plant, the leaves are sticky and trap insects which are then digested by the plant[7].
Plants overwinter as a tight winter-resting bud with virtually no roots[200].

Propagation

Seed - we have no information on this species but suggest sowing the seed in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the summer if this is possible otherwise in early spring. Place the pots in shallow water to keep them moist. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first two growing seasons. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division of the resting buds in the winter[200].
Leaf cuttings.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[FEIS] Data (Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Lentibulariaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[7] Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[66] Freethy. R. From Agar to Zenery. The Crowood Press 1985 ISBN 0-946284-51-2
Very readable, giving details on plant uses based on the authors own experiences.

[115] Johnson. C. P. The Useful Plants of Great Britain.
Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

Readers Comments

Plant Rennet

Rich (pfaf@scs.leeds.ac.uk) Sat Apr 15 16:59:27 2000

According to VegSoc, in the past, fig leaves, melon, wild thistle and safflower have all supplied plant rennets for cheese making.

agsieve also has information about another plant source, using the juice from the plant as a coagulant.

Cross references: Plants: Asclepias eriocarpa, Carduus nutans, Carthamnus tinctorius, Cirsium arvense, Cirsium vulgare, Cynara cardunculus, Cynara scolymus, Drosera rotundifolia, Ficus carica, Galega officinalis, Galium verum, Fumaria officinalis, Oxalis acetosella, Pyrularia edulis , Rhus chinensis, Rumex acetosa, Urtica dioica, Withania somnifera.

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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