How to Choose Your First Mexican Butterwort

Mexican butterworts are the easiest carnivorous plants most people have never grown. They do not need a bog or a terrarium. A bright windowsill and a jug of distilled water cover most of it. This is how we would pick a first one from our own bench, and what to have ready before it arrives.

What makes a butterwort easy

All Mexican Pinguicula want the same basics: bright indirect light, mineral-free water and a fast-draining mix. What separates a beginner plant from a collector's plant is how much slack it gives you. The vigorous hybrids tolerate ordinary household humidity, forgive a missed watering, and grow through most of the year without a strict rest. The rarer species and locality forms are often slower and fussier about their winter.

Speed matters more than it sounds. A vigorous hybrid that dries out for a few days or sits somewhere dim for a week sulks for a bit and then carries on. A slow species can take months to show whether it is recovering, and by then it is hard to know what went wrong. A first plant should give you fast feedback.

Butterworts also tell you what they need. In good light the leaves are dewy and usually flushed pink or red. In poor light they go flat, green and matte. Few carnivorous plants are that easy to read.

The easy ones on our bench

Pinguicula 'Pirouette' is the one we hand to first-timers. It grows a symmetrical pinwheel rosette 2 to 3 inches across, flowers reliably in pink-lavender, and if kept warm will grow straight through winter without a rest. It is also the easiest plant we grow to propagate from leaf pullings, so one plant tends to become three.

Pinguicula 'Johanna' gives the most color for the least effort. It is a cross of P. agnata and P. debbertiana, registered as a cultivar in 2010, and under strong light the rosette goes from soft green to cherry-pink. It feeds well, blooms often, and the purple flowers carry fine veining and a white throat.

Pinguicula 'Weser' is a moranensis × ehlersiae hybrid and one of the most dependable of that group: a sturdy rosette, heavy dew, and large pink-violet flowers that often open several at a time. Ours come from tissue culture, so they arrive clean and already hardened off.

Pinguicula agnata 'El Lobo' is a locality form from a population between the villages of La Vuelta and El Lobo in Querétaro. Under strong light it blushes from green through pink to deep red with a purple-red leaf edge, and the flowers are pure white. Pick it if you want something a little less common that is still forgiving.

Pinguicula agnata × emarginata 'Sakurahime' is a Japanese hybrid that takes its vigor from agnata and its curled leaf margins from emarginata. The curl helps hold digestive fluid on the leaf. The flat rosette flushes strongly pink, and the flowers are white with purple veining.

Pinguicula debbertiana is the smallest plant we grow, 1 to 2 inches across, and it colors from pale green to vivid pink and a metallic purple. It is a species from San Luis Potosí rather than a hybrid, and it is more particular about a dry winter rest than the plants above. Its flowers fold shut at night and open again in the morning, a habit only a handful of butterworts share. It fits windowsills and vented terrariums where nothing else will.

Side by side

Cultivar	Color under strong light	Flower	Winter	Best for
'Pirouette'	Green to deep pink	Pink-lavender	Optional; grows on if kept warm	A first plant, and leaf pullings
'Johanna'	Soft green to cherry-pink	Purple, white throat	May form a succulent rosette	The most color for the least effort
'Weser'	Blush edged in pink	Large pink-violet	Succulent phase	Heavy dew and frequent flowers
agnata 'El Lobo'	Green to deep red, purple margins	White	Tight succulent rosette	Something less common, still forgiving
'Sakurahime'	Strong pink flush	White with purple veining	May form a succulent rosette	Curled margins, refined flowers
debbertiana	Pale green to metallic purple	Purple; closes at night	Tight rosette; keep it dry	Windowsills and vented terrariums

What to have ready

Plants ship bare root, so have this on hand before the box arrives:

• A 2 to 3 inch pot with a drainage hole. Butterworts have small roots and do badly in a big pot that stays wet.
• A fast-draining mix. We pot everything in a 1:1 blend of peat moss and perlite. The species and locality forms also do well with pumice or coarse sand added.
• A gallon of distilled water from the grocery store. Rainwater and reverse-osmosis water work just as well. Tap water is the most common way people lose these plants.
• A bright spot: an east, south or west window, or a shelf under a grow light.

Pot the plant the day it arrives and give it a week or two to settle. The step-by-step version, including what transit stress looks like, is in the Mexican Pinguicula care guide.

The first few weeks

New growers tend to worry at two points. The first is right after unboxing, when a bare-root plant looks limp and may drop a leaf or two. That is normal. The plant is regrowing roots, and the thing to watch for is new growth from the center of the rosette.

The second is the first winter. Most Mexican Pinguicula are heterophyllous, which means they grow two kinds of leaf. Through spring and summer they make broad sticky leaves. As days shorten and nights cool they switch to a tight rosette of small, thick, non-sticky leaves and stop catching insects. It looks like the plant is dying. It is not. Water much less, leave it alone, and sticky leaves return in spring. We wrote a separate note on the winter rosette.

Two exceptions: 'Pirouette' often skips the rest if kept warm, and P. gigantea × moctezumae keeps its leaves year-round.

One to grow into

Once the first plant is doing well, Pinguicula 'Aphrodite' is the showpiece. It is an agnata × moctezumae hybrid with long, strap-shaped leaves that reach up to 10 inches across in strong light, it blooms violet through much of the year, and it has the largest trapping area of anything we grow. Care is the same as for the small plants; it just needs room. P. gigantea × moctezumae is the other large one at around 8 inches, and it holds its leaves through winter.

If you would rather try a different genus, the red Cape sundew in Sundews & More is just as forgiving but wants the opposite watering: stand it in a shallow tray of distilled water instead of watering from the top.

Common questions

Are butterworts safe around pets and kids?

Yes. Mexican Pinguicula are not toxic, and the leaves are only sticky enough to hold gnats and fruit flies.

Do they really help with fungus gnats?

Yes. The leaves trap adult gnats around the clock. They cannot reach larvae already in the soil, so let the top of the mix dry between waterings as well. We wrote up what to expect.

Do I need to feed it?

No. A plant on a windowsill catches enough on its own. Fertilizer in the soil burns the roots, so leave it out entirely.

Can I use tap water if I let it sit out overnight?

No. Standing water lets chlorine off-gas but leaves every dissolved mineral behind, and the minerals are what damage the roots. Distilled, reverse-osmosis or rainwater only.

Does it need a terrarium?

No. Mexican Pinguicula do fine in ordinary household humidity, roughly 30 to 80 percent. If you do use a terrarium, make sure it is vented. Sealed containers rot them.

How much light is bright indirect light?

Enough to read by comfortably all day, with no direct midday sun on the leaves. An east-facing window is close to ideal. Under a grow light, 12 to 14 hours a day works. A flat, green, matte rosette wants more light.

Where to go next

Once your plant is established, our guide to leaf-pulling propagation covers the method we use. The full routine for light, water, soil and the winter rest is in the care guide.

Shop all Mexican Pinguicula