With the exception of the Australian continent, butterworts can be found worldwide, especially in the northern hemisphere. In Africa Pinguicula species are only found in the northern parts along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The main centre of diversity is the Carribean/Mesoamerican region, where 2/3 of the butterwort species can be found. A secondary centre of diversity is the European continent, but with a much smaller number of distinctive species.

Like all other carnivorous plants, butterworts have become specialized to grow in habitats where the soils are quite poor in nutrients. The advantage of using nutrients of animal origin is that it allows them to live in habitats where other plants can't grow very well. So it is not astonishing that butterworts can be found in areas like bogs, eroded soils or even bare rocks.

There exist several growth types. Distinctive features are the formation of different leaf types within the annual growth cycle. The different growth types reflect adaptation of different species through evolution to different habitats and climates.

Generally butterwort species can be divided into 2 groups: The first group is called temperate growth type. This group is characterized by the fact that due to cold temperatures plant growth ends with formation of a winter bud (hibernaculum). If the plants form only on set of leaves during the growing season, they belong to the temperate-homophyllous growth type. Whereas the generative and vegetative rosettes consist of different leaf forms, plants belong to the temperate-heterophyllous growth type. Very interesting is the fact that temperate butterwort species from the Andean region down to Cape Horn do not form a winter bud. This leads to the conclusion that they have not lost their "tropical heritage" and suggests that the origin of Pinguicula species was the Carribean/Mesoamerican region.

The second group of plants is characterized by a growth cycle the whole year around (tropical growth type). When climate conditions do not vary a lot there is only a formation of one single set of leaves (tropical-homophyllous growth type). Is there a winter and summer period, plants can form two sets of leaves. Leaves in the wet summer season have carnivorous characteristics, while in the more dry and cool winter period leaves are small, succulent and non-carnivorous (tropical-heterophyllous growth type).