An Mysterious Flowering Plant, Declared Extinct in 2010, Rediscovered in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
Thismia kobensis, or “Fairy Lantern”, is an extremely rare mycoheterotrophic plant with only one specimen discovered in Kobe, Japan, in 1992. Subsequent surveys from 1993 to 1999 found no additional specimens, and by 2010, it was declared extinct due to habitat loss and deforestation.
However, in a new study published in the journal Phytotaxa on February 27, Japanese scientists reported the rediscovery of dozens of T. kobensis plants along a trail in Sanda City, Hyōgo Prefecture, about 30 km from Kobe.
Some T. kobensis specimens discovered in Hyogo. (Photo: Tsung Hsin Hsieh/Tian Chuan Hsu).
Like the approximately 90 known species in the genus Thismia, T. kobensis grows underground and only emerges briefly as complex lantern-like flowers. Due to its lack of chlorophyll, this mysterious plant cannot photosynthesize; instead, it parasitizes fungi to obtain some or all of the necessary nutrients.
The preferred habitat of Thismia is tropical rainforests, which are facing global degradation. Species in this genus remain elusive, and a significant number have disappeared since their initial discoveries.
“Because most mycoheterotrophic plants indirectly take up carbon from their hosts (fungi or other plants) through shared root networks, they are highly dependent on the activity of fungi or host plants for survival. Therefore, Thismia is particularly sensitive to environmental disturbances, making them both rare and at high risk of extinction,” the researchers wrote in the study.
The rediscovery of T. kobensis makes it the only known Thismia species in the northernmost part of Asia. Based on several characteristics, such as distinct petals and the absence of nectar glands, the research team suggests it is closely related to Thismia americana, the only Thismia species in North America. T. americana was first discovered in Chicago in 1912 but has not been seen since 1916.