Pinguicula
Pinguicula is a genus of carnivorous plants, commonly called butterworts, whose sticky leaves capture small prey and digest them with enzymes.
Mucilage: A slippery, viscous secretion produced by plants, microbes, and animals. Its sticky strands hold insects against butterwort leaves.
Leaf: A plant organ specialized for photosynthesis, gas exchange, and water regulation. Butterwort leaves combine photosynthesis with prey capture.
Horticulture: The science and practice of cultivating garden plants. Butterworts are grown as ornamental plants and for insect control.
Drosera: A genus of carnivorous plants, commonly called sundews, that capture prey with sticky glandular leaves. Sundews use sticky traps too, but many can bend tentacles around prey.
Plant taxonomy: The science of naming, describing, and classifying plants. Species boundaries and relationships within Pinguicula have been revised as evidence accumulates.
Glandular trichome: A hairlike plant structure with cells that secrete substances. Butterwort leaf glands produce the adhesive and digestive secretions.
Photosynthesis: The process by which organisms use light energy to make organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water. Butterworts still rely on ordinary photosynthesis for most of their carbon.
Bog garden: A garden designed to support plants adapted to persistently moist, acidic conditions. Some temperate butterworts thrive in wet, nutrient-poor garden conditions.
Dionaea: A genus containing the Venus flytrap, which snaps shut on prey using hinged leaves. Its rapid snap trap contrasts with butterworts' adhesive leaves.
Phylogenetics: The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms. Phylogenetic analyses help resolve how butterwort species diversified.