Two of the main characteristics that are commonly attributed to plants are green leaves and photosynthesis. However, several groups of plants are known that do not have these properties and are capable of obtaining nutrients from other organisms.
The genus Thismia is included in this group of plants that do not depend on sunlight to live. For reasons that are not entirely clear, perhaps related to the film adaptations of classic tales such as Peter Pan, some of the Thismia species that grow very sporadically and isolated in Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea receive the popular name of fairy lanterns (from English, fairy lanterns),
The main part of this type of plant lives underground and only occasionally shows its brightly colored flowers.
Wikipedia (Spanish version) indicates that there are 42 species of Thismia but specialized publications raise the figure to around 90 different species.
One of the least known fairy lanterns is the Thismia kobensis whose existence was discovered in 1992 in a small location in Kobe (Japan). The until then only habitat of this species was destroyed by an industrial complex, so there has been no reference to this plant in nature for three decades.
A team led by Professor Kenji Suetsugu, from Kobe University, however, has now located new specimens of this unique fairy lantern in the city of Sanda, some 30 km away from the initial location, according to an information note. released by Kobe University. “This unexpected finding and subsequent research have shed new light on this extraordinary genus and its evolutionary history,” says this academic institution, to which the authors of the study on this discovery, published in the Phytotaxa journal, belong.
The researchers have now provided an updated description of Thismia kobensis that builds on earlier knowledge, based on an incomplete specimen held in a museum.
The rediscovered species can be distinguished by its short, broad ring, as well as the many short hairs on its stigma. Multi-characteristic analyzes confirm that Thismia kobensis is a distinct species from previously known species such as Thismia huangii, with unique features and partially different evolutionary history.
The newly discovered location of Thismia kobensis makes it the northernmost known Asian fairy lantern species. This discovery may offer new insights into the affinity and biogeography of Thismia americana, which was originally thought to be related to some species in Australia and New Zealand, says Kobe University.
Thismia americana, discovered over 100 years ago, is North America’s only species of fairy lantern and was observed for a few years in a prairie near Chicago, but is now considered extinct. Experts continue to be surprised by the existence of such similar species in isolated areas so far apart.
