Florida bluehearts
Buchnera floridana
As a hemiparasite, it can survive on its own through photosynthesis, but it grows significantly larger and healthier when it steals nutrients from a host plant's roots.
- Scientific name
- Buchnera floridana
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Orobanchaceae › Buchnera
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Wet pine flatwoods, savannas, wet prairies, and acidic bogs.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (autotrophic) but also hemiparasitic, siphoning water and nutrients from the roots of host plants.
- Range
- Southeastern United States, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi
- Size
- 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 inches) in height
- Lifespan
- 1 to 2 years (annual or short-lived perennial)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Fire suppression, habitat fragmentation, and commercial land development.
- Safe to approach?
- This plant is entirely harmless to humans. Enjoy its delicate purple flowers from a safe distance to avoid trampling its fragile wetland habitat. Do not pick the wildflowers; leave them for native pollinators.
Buchnera floridana , the Florida bluehearts , is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to the southeastern USA, Texas, eastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, and most of the Caribbean islands. A hemiparasitic biennial, it is found mostly in wet areas such as open pinelands, flatwoods, and pitcher-plant bogs of the Gulf Coastal Plain.
Photo: Lauren McLaurin, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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