It is always a delight to find the dainty Butterwort. It grows in heaths
and bogs and marshes almost everywhere, but is most abundant in the
North. The delicate flowers bloom in summer.
You will easily recognise this beautiful highland plant by the leaves.
They are thick and juicy, and grow close to the ground in a pale green
star-pointed rosette. Each leaf is stalkless and as smooth as satin. On
the upper side these leaves are pale yellow-green, but sometimes the
edges curl upwards, and then you see that the leaf underneath is so pale
that it is almost white.
From the centre of the rosette rise tall, slender stalks with drooping
flower-heads. These flowers are dark bluey-purple, and their petals are
joined into a short tube which stands in a shallow, toothed calyx-cup.
The mouth of the tube folds back in two parts. The upper half is short,
with a deep notch in the middle. The lower half is much longer, and is
divided into three deep scollops.
You will find a pink horn-like spur standing up near the base of the
short tube, and you can see that the back of the flower is a delicate
rose pink colour. Inside the blue tube there are two stamens and a
curiously shaped seed-vessel hidden from sight.