Northern Bluethread

Stems 3–18 cm. Leaves: basal leaves absent; cauline leaves subulate to lanceolate, 1–4 × 0.2–1 mm. Inflorescences loosely 2–12–flowered cymes, 2-cleft, or flowers solitary; cyme rachis usually distinct, to 2.5 cm; floral bracts subulate to lanceolate, 1.5–3.2 mm. Flowers 3-winged, 3–6 mm, wings blue, to 2.5 mm wide; perianth blue to violet, often with cream-colored lobes; perianth tube 6-lobed; outer lobes triangular, 0.5–1 mm; inner lobes erect, elliptic, 0.4–0.8 mm; pedicel 0–1 mm. Capsules 2–3.5 mm.

Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tex., Va.; West Indies (Cuba).

Flowering summer--fall.

Low woods, pond margins, savannas, bogs, swamps, ditches, pine barrens; 0--100m.

Burmannia biflora, common name northern bluethread, is a plant species native to Cuba, the Bahamas and to the southeastern United States. It has been reported from Puerto Rico, eastern Texas, Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas (Hempstead County), southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

Burmannia biflora grows in wet areas (bogs, swamps, ditches, lake shores, etc.) at elevations less than 100 m. It is an annual herb up to 20 cm tall. Flowers are borne in a loose cyme of up to 12 flowers, blue, 3-winged, sometimes white around the edges.