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Species library › Pinguicula › Pinguicula cyclosecta
Carnivorous Well documented

Pinguicula cyclosecta

A small Mexican butterwort from the limestone cliffs of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nuevo León, known for its silvery-violet leaves and deep purple flowers. Like other Mexican 'heterophyllous' butterworts it makes sticky carnivorous leaves in the warm wet season and a tight rosette of small succulent non-carnivorous leaves for the cool dry winter. Grow it lean and mineral, wet in summer and almost dry in winter.

Pinguicula cyclosecta
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Denis Barthel assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

Grows on a north-facing vertical limestone wall above fir (Abies) and oak woodland, rooted in moss carpets with Selaginella and ferns or in shaded crevices under Agave and Hechtia. The site is cool and windy, with cliff seepage in the rainy season and drought in winter.

Montane: the type area lies in fir-oak country of the Sierra Madre Oriental, which implies roughly 1,500–2,000 m, but no precise elevation was found in the sources consulted.

Mexico (Nuevo León)

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.