# 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.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/b4918150-81b7-4acc-8568-b33acf0b167d
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/287356
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchnera floridana
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/20629535/medium.jpeg (Lauren McLaurin, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.