Pinguicula medusina is currently known only from gypsum hills at Laguna Encantata, about 3km north from Santiago Juxtlahuaca in the state of Oaxaca.

It was discovered by Alfred Lau in 1977 while he was looking for cactus on a new hill of gypsum. Alfred Lau collected a few plants and sent it to various European botanical gardens. Only the pnts sent to Linz in Austria survived. They were multiplied and distributed under the name Pinguicula ‘alfredae’ without giving them a precise taxonomic rank. The 'alfredae' bit coming from the name of the discoverer, Alfred Lau.

Van Marm and Lampard (1992) considered it was time to resolve the problem of whether P. alfredae was a form of Pinguicula heterophylla or not. However, they didn’t have enough genetically different plants to conclude and felt that it will be important to perform further studies of wild populations and in the greenhouse. Between 1998 and 1999, there were various expeditions to the state of Oaxaca to find wild populations of these plants with the aim of collecting new clones for study to try to answer the question. In the same period, in the botanical garden of Liberec in the Czech Republic, M. Studnicka obtained the proof that P. heterophylla and P. ‘alfredae’ were different species through studies of live material which could be distinguished by their flower morphology, their phenology and their ecology. S.Z. Ruiz and M. Studnicka published the description of P. medusina in 2000.

Pinguicula medusina dies down to a bulb in winter. During this period it must be kept completely dry. Only start wtering when new leaves appear in spring.

Pinguicula medusina is famous for being viviparous - it forms tiny clones of itself on the tips of the leaves. I feature this in a video on our Youtube channel, check out our LINKS page. Vivipary is also the most noticeable difference between P. medusina and P. heterophylla.

One M size plant per pot.

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