Burmannia capitata (Southern bluethread), a member of
the Burmanniaceae family and relative to the famous Thismia americana
(Chicago banded trinity). The Chicago banded trinity is a weird cousin and an
odd Chicagoland endemic, only observed over the course of a few years, and not seen
at all in the last 100 hundred plus years. The Burmanniaceae is an interesting
plant family, with only five North American representatives. The family has
traditionally been placed in the Orchidales; however, recent work suggests it
should be included within the Dioscoreales. Most members of the family are
saprophytic or more precisely myco-heterotrophic. Southern bluethread is
autotrophic but is likely hemisaprophytic.
The Southern bluethread is not uncommon, but not likely observed by many non-botanists. Heck, even botanists aren’t likely to observe this little beauty, unless they frequently crawl around on their hands and knees to better appreciate some other botanical wonder. Southern bluethread is a tiny annual plant, never much more than 15 cm tall. It has a broad distribution and is found from North Carolina to Texas as well as into Central and South America and the West Indies.
The species is one that I had targeted during a recent trip
to the Florida Panhandle. I found a few locations online and set out to find
and photograph the plants in situ. The first site was a roadside area in the
Apalachicola National Forest. No luck with the Burmannia at this site,
but I did find Drosera (sundews), two species of Lycopodiella,
and a tiny tiny (seriously tiny!) Scleria (nutsedge). On the way to my second
and last Burmannia location, Jean and I stopped along a roadside she
remembered. This was a site where Jean had assisted with a study of Pinguicula
ionantha (Violet or Panhandle butterwort), a federally endangered and
Florida endangered species. Unfortunately, this roadside was mostly recently
mowed with lots of grass clippings covering some of the interesting plants
below. We did find plenty though, Sarracenia psittacina (Parrot pitcher
plant), a state-threatened species in Florida, lots more Drosera, Pinguicula
ionantha (Violet butterwort) to name just a few. Then, while crouching to
take some macro photos of the Pinguicula, BAM!!!, I found my first Burmannia
capitata.
Holy crap, what a tiny little beast!
As is often the case with tiny little plants like Burmannia capitata, once we found the first one, we noticed them all around at the edge of the unmowed area, hiding below the taller vegetation. Later, while on hands and knees photographing Utricularia juncea (Southern bladderwort), another minuscule member of the local flora, there it was again. Tiny little white stems poking up between the bladderworts, and sundews, and pitcher plants just where I really wanted to see them, in a nice quality southern seepage bog.
