Flowering from May to July; fruiting from July to September.
Pinguicula alpina is close relative of Pinguicula villosa but differs from the latter in its leaves 1-4 cm long (vs. 0.5-1 cm), pedicel and calyx glabrous (vs. glandular pilose), corolla 10-20 mm (vs. 6-9 mm), white but spur yellowish (vs. pale violet and spur the same color).
Pinguicula alpina is occurring in Chongqing, Gansu, NE Guizhou, W Hubei, E Qinghai, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, S and SE Xizang, NW Yunnan of China, Bhutan, N India, Kashmir, Mongolia, N Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Europe.
Herb, perennial, overwintering by a resting bud; bud ovoid. Leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade pale green, elliptic-oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 1.5-4.5 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, abaxially glabrous, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein, base broadly cuneate, margin involute, apex obtuse to rounded. Flowers 2-6, from generative rosette. Pedicel 4-12 cm long, glabrous, apical part enlarged in fruit. Calyx parted from base into 2 lips, glabrous; lower lip 2-lobed, lobes obovate; upper lip 3-lobed, lobes triangular-ovate. Corolla mostly white with 1 or more yellow spots on palate; tube shortly funnelform-tubular, outside glabrous, inside puberulous; spur yellowish, cylindric, straight, as long as corolla tube, apex rounded; lobes of lower lip circular to broadly ovate, apex rounded to obtuse; lobes of upper lip broadly ovate to suborbicular, apex obtuse. Filaments curved; anther thecae confluent. Ovary globose; style short but distinct; stigma lower lip circular and ciliate, upper lip deltoid. Capsule ovoid-oblong, glabrous. Seeds narrowly ellipsoid; seed coat with small prominent elongate reticulations.
The chromosomal number of Pinguicula alpina is 2n = 32 (Murin et al., 1980; Dobeš et al., 1997).
Growing in wet places in mountains; 2000-4000 m.
