Parasitic flower reappears 13 years after being declared extinct

A mysterious plant with lantern-like flowers, declared extinct in 2010, has been rediscovered in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan .

Thismia kobensis or "fairy lantern" is an extremely rare mycorrhizal plant with only a single specimen discovered in the Japanese city of Kobe in 1992. Subsequent surveys from 1993 to 1999 failed to find any new 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 said they had rediscovered dozens of T. kobensis plants on a trail in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, about 30km from Kobe.

Some specimens of T. kobensis discovered in Hyogo. (Photo: Tsung Hsin Hsieh/Tian Chuan Hsu).

Like the 90 or so known species in the genus Thismia, T. kobensis grows underground and only briefly emerges from the ground in elaborate, lantern-like flowers. Lacking chlorophyll, the mysterious plant is unable to photosynthesize, and instead relies on fungi to obtain some or all of its essential nutrients.

The preferred habitat of Thismia is tropical rainforest, which is facing global decline. Species in this genus remain elusive and a significant number have disappeared since their initial discoveries.

"Because most heterotrophic plants obtain carbon indirectly from their hosts (fungi or other plants) through shared root networks, they are highly dependent on the activity of the fungi or host plants for their survival. Thismia is therefore particularly sensitive to environmental disturbances, making them both rare and highly endangered ," the scientists wrote in the study.

The rediscovery of T. kobensis makes it the only known Thismia species in northern Asia . Based on several characteristics such as the conspicuous petals and lack of nectaries, the team believes 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.