Buchnera americana

Buchnera americana
photo by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order:	Scrophulariales
Family:	Scrophulariaceae
Genus:	Buchnera
Species:	B. americana
Binomial name
Buchnera americana L.
Natural range of Buchnera americana from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: American bluehearts

Description

For the genus Buchnera, is hispid to pilose perennials with erect, simple stems growing up to 4-8 dm tall. The entire plant turns black when dried. The leaves are opposite, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate in shape, grows up to 3-7 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, and is reduced above. The leaves are entire or irregularly serrate or crenulate, sessile. The inflorescence is an open spike, the flower are in the axils of opposite bracts and subtended by 2 bractlets. The calyx tube is cylindrical, grows up to 3.5-5 mm long, the lobes 5, lanceolate in shape, slightly unequal, up to 1 mm or less long. The corolla is purple or white in color, subsalverform, weakly zygomorphic, lobes 5, shorter than the calyx tube. Up to 4 fertile stamens are present with anthers with only a single sac. The capsule is ovoid or pyriform, grows up to 5-6 mm long and is loculicidal in shape (Radford 1964).

Specifically, for Buchnera americana, they have noticeable 3-veined leaves that are ovate-lanceolate in shape. The corolla is purple in color. The calyx tube is 10-12 mm long, the lobes are 5-8 mm long. Flowers from July to September (Radford 1964).

Ecology

Habitat

B. americana is found in moist environments near ponds and low brackish marshes, at the edges of hammocks, and in hillside bogs (FSU Herbarium). However, it can also appear in drier situations like savannas, pine flatwoods, dry open woods, hillside prairies, open prairies, coastal dunes, and shallow, grassy depressions (FSU Herbarium). In addition, it can be found in disturbed areas such as roadsides, ditches, sandy fields, open pasture, and clearings that have become weedy (FSU Herbarium). This species prefers open, sunny conditions, but occurs in a range of soil types, from dry loamy sand, to moist black sandy peat, seasonally damp areas, acidic sandy soils, and clay soils (FSU Herbarium).

Associated species includes slash pine, longleaf pine, saw palmetto, cypress, Hypericum opacum, Eryngium integrifolium, Xyris elliottii, Habenaria integra, Polygala ramosa, Polygala lutea, Ctenium aromaticus, Hibiscus aculeatus, Lobelia, Baccharis, Myrica, Erigeron strigosus, Polypremum procumbens, and others (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

B. americana has been observed flowering as early as January, through October (FSU Herbarium). Fruiting has been observed February through November (FSU Herbarium).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: George R. Cooley, R. J. Eaton, O. Lakela, R. Kral, Elmer C. Prichard, Loran C. Anderson, Norlan C. Henderson, Mabel Kral, F. H. Sargent, Carroll E. Wood, Jr., Mary Atkinson, William P. Adams, C. Jackson, R.K. Godfrey, William Lindsey, W. P. Adams, Gary R. Knight, Jane Brockmann, Jackie Patman, James D. Ray, Gary R. Knight, Jean W. Wooten, Raymond Athey, Bruce Hansen, U. T. Waterfall, Paul L. Redfearn, Jr., Charles T. Bryson, A.F. Clewell, S.W. Leonard, Samuel B. Jones, Jr., John W. Thieret, Mary Margaret Williams, D. S. Correll, Chas. C. Deam, R. B. Channel, Josephine Skehan, Delzie Demaree, D.B. Ward, S.S. Ward, H.L. Blomquist, Baltzell, Kenneth A. Wilson, Grady W. Reinert, Julie Neel, R. A. Norris, R. Komarek, Thomas E. Miller, and James R. Burkhalter. States and Counties: Alabama: Wilcox. Arkansas: Prairie. Florida: Calhoun, Citrus, Charlotte, Collier, De Soto, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Hamilton, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Jackson, Jasper, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Martin, Monroe, Osceola, Okaloosa, Pasco, Polk, Sarasota, St Johns, Taylor, Volusia, and Wakulla. Georgia: Charlton, Grady, McIntosh, and Thomas. Kentucky: Coffee and Lyon. Louisiana: Jefferson-Davis. Mississippi: Clay, Forrest, Jackson, and Newton. Missouri: Cambria, Cedar, Polk, and Vernon. North Carolina: Brunswick and Carteret. Oklahoma: Payne. South Carolina: Lee. Texas: Galveston.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 954-5. Print.