Burmanniaceae

Small, often leafless herbs that draw nutrients from underground fungal partners rather than photosynthesising much themselves; delicate, often winged, tubular flowers with three petals rise on slender translucent stems from the forest floor.

Many species are mycoheterotrophic, tapping into a network of soil fungi for sugars instead of making their own through photosynthesis — a lifestyle that lets them thrive in deep, dark forest shade where green plants cannot.