Pinguicula habilii — Vorstman's Guide to the Carnivorous Plants

Identification

A rosette of yellow-green leaves with a dense glandular coat that glistens and feels greasy; the margin is curled upward. Glabrous scapes rise from the centre, each with one two-lipped flower, with a two-lobed upper lip, a three-lobed lower lip with throat markings and a spur behind. Reliable measurements for plant, corolla and spur, and an exact flower colour, could not be traced to a freely available source for this guide; the original description in Phytotaxa records them but was behind a paywall while this account was compiled. They are therefore not given here.

Similar species

The species belongs to the complex around Pinguicula crystallina and P. hirtiflora, which has its eastern outpost in Turkey and Cyprus. Those two are separated on spur length relative to the corolla — a third in P. crystallina, half or more in P. hirtiflora — and it is exactly within that span that the Anatolian plants have been studied. In addition, P. megaspilaea occurs in south-west Anatolia, recognisable by its strikingly long, linear summer leaves. Identification in this group demands measurements, not first impressions.

The trap and how it works

A flypaper trap that lives on spring water. The leaf bears stalked glands with a sticky droplet and, between them, sessile glands releasing digestive enzymes once prey is lying on them. In the permanently humid air around an Anatolian spring or small waterfall, midges and gnats fly in quantity and make up the catch. After a catch the leaf margin rolls over the prey so the digestive fluid stands in a shallow dish instead of running off the sloping rock. On serpentine — a rock that combines poverty with toxic metals — that extra nutrition is of real value.

Habitat and ecology

Permanently wet rock sites in the mountains of south-west Anatolia: dripping faces at springs and waterfalls, wet crevices and the damp zone along mountain streams. The species grows lithophytically, straight onto the rock in a thin film of moss and weathered debris. Both limestone and serpentine are occupied; the complex the species belongs to is known for that indifference to rock type combined with an absolute requirement for permanently running water. In a landscape of long hot summers, such wet places are scarce.

Distribution and elevation

South-west Anatolia in Turkey, where the species was described from the uplands of Muğla province. The range is small and confined to a limited number of spring habitats in that hill country. Our own species list gives 'Turkey (Anatolia)'; that is on the coarse side, since this concerns the south-western part of Anatolia and not the peninsula as a whole. The same district also holds populations of P. crystallina and P. megaspilaea, which makes the region the most interesting butterwort country in the eastern Mediterranean.

Recorded (one-degree cells)

Distribution based solely on records at GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), not on TDWG regions — those are often far larger than the actual range. The light halo is the area around a record, the dark core the record itself. The darker square is the only one-degree cell — roughly a hundred and ten kilometres — in which the species has been recorded, from all GBIF records. This is coarser than for most species because hardly any record of this plant carries an accurate coordinate. It shows where the species has been seen, not where it occurs: an empty square means nothing.

Forms and variation

No wild varieties are recognised. The relevant movement is at species level: the Turkish butterworts have been thoroughly revised over the past two decades, splitting plants formerly carried under one name and redrawing the line between P. crystallina and P. hirtiflora. P. habilii came out of that revision. Anyone consulting older Turkish flora literature will find these plants there under the name of one of the relatives.

Where and when to see it

Spring, when the springs run highest; in summer the Anatolian interior turns hot and dry and the sites shrink back to their wettest cores. Search at springs, small waterfalls and stream headwaters in the uplands, watching for the dark wet streaks on the rock face. The rosettes often sit above eye level in a crevice or on a moss cushion. Use binoculars rather than climbing, and record site, rock type and elevation — for a species known for so short a time that is the most useful contribution an observer can make.

Conservation status

The species has not been assessed for the global Red List; there is therefore no international category, and CITES does not apply. What can be said follows from the distribution: a Turkish endemic with a small range, tied to permanently wet rock sites in a district of long hot summers. The risks are correspondingly concrete: the capping of springs for drinking water, irrigation and tourism, falling water tables in longer droughts, and trampling around popular spring and waterfall sites. Little has yet been published on population sizes; the absence of an assessment mainly reflects that lack of data.

Scientific name

Pinguicula habilii | Yildirim, Senol & Pirhan, 2012

Described by Hasan Yildirim, Serdar Gökhan Şenol and Ademi Fahri Pirhan in 2012, in Phytotaxa 64(1): 46–58. The type area lies in south-western Anatolia, Turkey. The exact origin of the species name habilii (likely honouring a person named Habil) could not be established with certainty.

World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.