butterwort
- noun
- /ˈbʌtərˌwɜrt/
- Specialized
:
mantequera
- The butterwort uses its sticky leaves to trap insects, which provide essential nutrients for the plant.
- kinds of butterwort
Examples
-
I sat on clover and campion, butterwort, on scratchy sand spurrey.
Fiction book (1997) -
Bogs are home to a large number of carnivorous plant species, such as sundews, butterworts, bladderworts, and pitcher plants.
Academic text (2002) -
And we're not just talking about the butterwort-flytrap hybrid in The Little Shop of Horrors.
Blog text (8) -
As she approaches the butterwort plant, she heads for the flowers that wave high above the plants globs of adhesive goo.
-
It supports a healthy sampling of the Coastal Plain's carnivorous species: three of the six pitcher plants, three of the six sundews, two of the six butterworts, and at least one of the thirteen bladderworts.
Academic text (2010) -
A butterwort can often be found in wetlands, where its leaves attract small flies and other bugs.
-
In our garden, the butterwort blooms beautifully, attracting various insects with its colorful flowers.
Synonyms
A group of small plants with sticky leaves that catch and eat insects
A group of small plants that grow in bogs and eat insects using sticky leaves
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Butterwort comes from the parts butter and wort, an old word for 'plant'. One popular story says people named it because its shiny, sticky leaves feel greasy like 'butter' and were sometimes used in folk butter-making, so the name points to this wetland plant whose butter-like leaves help it catch insects.
