First meeting with Pinguicula longifolia in the Cirque de Gavarnie.

This is a post I should have put online quite a while ago. But better late than never, I guess. ;-)

On July 2016, I went for the first time in the 'Cirque de Gavarnie' (the 'Gavarnie Circus'), a very well known touristy spot of the French Pyrénées, in Southern France. One of the goals of my day trip was to observe some local butterworts and especially the famous Pinguicula longifolia (ssp. longifolia), a species I have always wanted to see and that I deem as one of the most beautiful among the European flora.

Luckily, thanks to a good friend, I was given the exact spot where I've been told a relatively dense population of Pinguicula longifolia could be observed. That location is not particularly kept secret but when you only have a day to explore and when you're on a family trip, it's always better to have accurate datas or gps in order to save precious time. ;-)

I left my children and wife to the nearby touristy spot where they enjoyed the view of a spectacular waterfall (spoiled though by the presence of maaany people) and I headed on an adjacent path where I quickly immersed myself in the wilderness. I was delighted to notice that the lovely Iris latifolia was in full bloom and growing in good numbers along the way to the anticipated carnivorous plant.

After about 15 minutes of walk, I spotted some Pinguicula among some short vegetation and I immediately examined them.

I had observed some Pinguicula grandiflora earlier that day and I would not have been surprised to see some more but those the plants I saw there looked a bit odd to me. It seemed to me that most of the leaves were quite elongated. Was it because the plants were growing in the shade? I didn't think so as I had seen Pinguicula grandiflora growing in shady areas before and the leaves were more rounded than elongated and most of the plants well bigger than the average.

As you can imagine, my thoughts were that these plants represented natural hybrids involving Pinguicula grandiflora and Pinguicula longifolia, maybe complex hybrids. Alas, we were on early July and it was already quite late to observe flowers, an obvious feature that would have helped to discriminate hybrids from true species.

That was it! As I progressed along a ridge, I recognized the spot that I saw on pictures before and that my friend described in the notes he sent to me.

I almost ran to the plants and was over the moon when I found out that the famous Pinguicula longifolia was  growing there on vertical seeping rocks.

Most of the plants were huge. Thats was something I was aware of but to see that in situ was something else. What a great looking species.

It was an incredible sight to observe the plants that were growing above me. Although I've seen that before with other plants, I was in awe in front of these carnivorous plants and their peculiar habitat. In a way, even though I knew very well that hundreds, maybe thousands, of carnivorous plants enthusiast had visited this site before, I felt like a pioneer, alone in the world, a paltry feeling I fully enjoyed. This was as intense as any wild Nepenthes (my favorite genus) I had seen before. A statement that may surprise some of you. ^^

Some plants were growing nearly at the foot of the vertical walls among some grasses making them obviously easier to study.

I noticed that some plants here and there were darker. I guess such variants must be highly sought after in cultivation (if my memory serves me right Best Carnivorous Plants nursery used to sell such plants).

The only regret I had on that day was that almost all the flowers had withered. I was on cloud 9 in front of all these green (red) leaves), just imagine how I would have felt had all the plants been in full bloom.

It appears that this Pinguicula species can catch quite a lot of preys as you can see in the following photograph.

However, excitation was eventually replaced by some frustration and seeing that the flowers had apparently gone just a few days ago, I decided to inspect the location very closely in order to find a few laggards. And I was lucky! A poor consolation in comparison to the spectacular display these plants must have offered maybe a week before but one I received warmly nonetheless.

What an amazing lilac color. Sadly, some plants were out of reach but being able to see some undamaged flowers was already a source of satisfaction. :-)

At one point of the site, I was amused and happy to see that there was a sign to highlight the plant presence to the layman. 

Apparently, the cliff was used for rock climbing but the local authorities decided to close the site to climbers in order to protect the butterwort population. Well done! :-)

I spent about one hour and a half in that wonderful location and most of the time, I was staring at the cliff in front of me where all the thousands long-leaved butterwort were kissing the sun disdaining my insignificant presence (sorry for the sophomore poetry^^).

Let's finish with my favorite plant of the day, a lovely specimen with reddish leaves. Actually, you can also spot some of those red colored plants in the two pictures above.

I'm sure you will be no surprised to know that I am looking forward to enjoying these plants (or one of the equally beautiful Spanish populations of this species) in full bloom in the foreseeable future. It is just a matter of time. ;-)