Pinguicula alpina, also known as the alpine butterwort, is a species of carnivorous plant native to high latitudes and altitudes throughout Eurasia.

Like all members of the genus, P. alpina uses mucilaginous glands covering the surface of its summer leaves to attract, trap, and digest arthropod prey.

[2] The five to eight fleshy, light-green to reddish, elliptic to lanceolate leaves form a ground-hugging rosette up to 6 cm (2 in) in diameter.

The leaves of this species are able to further aid digestion by growing such that the leaf edge rolls toward the center, bringing additional glands into contact with the prey.

[citation needed] Pinguicula alpina is hemicryptophytic, in that the plant survives the cold winter conditions by reducing to a bud resting on the soil surface.

This bud, called a hibernaculum, is composed of small, densely packed leaves, which unfurl with the coming of spring.

Pinguicula alpina is found in high altitudes and latitudes throughout Europe and Asia, with the densest populations concentrated in the Alps and northern Scandinavia.

Around the last ice age the plant was distributed throughout Asia, where it still remains today in Siberia, Mongolia, and the Himalayas.

[4] This species grows from sea level in northwest Siberia to altitudes of up to 4,100 m (13,500 ft) in open, sunny locations.

European folk medicine didn't distinguish between various butterwort species, but prescribed them for sores, swelling, sciatica, and liver disease, as well as stomach aches, chest pain and respiratory problems.