About Bletia mexicana (Greenm.) Sosa & M.W.Chase
Bletia mexicana, scientific name (Greenm.) Sosa & M.W.Chase, produces no leaves. This species is holomycotrophic, meaning it obtains all of its nutrition from organic substances supplied by fungi. Because of this, the plant does not require chlorophyll-containing leaves for photosynthesis. Its flower clusters, which sometimes hold more than a dozen flowers per cluster, grow up to 60 centimeters (around 2 feet) tall. Its blossoms are widely spaced and a vivid pink color. The 3-lobed labellum has a pink-edged margin, a white patch, and five ridges at its center. Bletia mexicana is found in central and southwestern Texas. Its main population is located in the Big Bend region of southwestern Texas, though isolated observations have been recorded in Dallas County in northeastern Texas. The specimen illustrated in this page’s taxonomy box was found between these two locations, in Uvalde County. This apparent disjunct distribution pattern raises the question of whether the species is expanding northward, or had an unbroken distribution across central and southern Texas in the past. A map of research-grade observations of the species on iNaturalist shows that in Mexico, the species occurs in the mountains of the northern part of the country (excluding Baja California), extending south through both the Eastern and Western Sierra Madres into Oaxaca state. Bletia mexicana mainly grows in the seasonally dry tropical and subtropical forest biome.
