by Scientists in Japan have rediscovered an extremely rare species of parasitic “elf-smelt” that was thought to be extinct.
The mysterious plant, Thismia kobensis, belongs to a rarely seen, fungal genus. The plants grow underground without photosynthesis, but send transparent flowers to sprout like ghostly lanterns from the forest floor.
The plant was first documented in 1992 in Kobe, Japan, and was thought to be extinct when its habitat was destroyed by the construction of an industrial complex. Now, three decades later, on a forest trail about 30 kilometers from Kobe, scientists have rediscovered the waxy, fang-shaped petals of the rare plant. They described the find on February 27 in the journal Phytotaxa (opens in a new tab).
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“This unexpected discovery and subsequent investigations have shed new light on this remarkable genus and its evolutionary history,” the researchers wrote in a statement (opens in a new tab).
Fairy lanterns (Thismia) are ethereal, subterranean plants whose only brief bursts from the earth come in the form of intricately petalled flowers. Without chlorophyll to photosynthesize energy, the plants instead use a process called mycoheterotrophy to steal the nutrients from the fungi that twine around their roots.
Thismia’s preferred habitats, which tend to be tropical rainforests, are facing global decline. Little is known about the elusive plants, and a significant number of the 90 or so identified species have been lost, some for decades, after their first discovery.
“Because most mycoheterotrophic plants obtain their carbon indirectly from photosynthetic plants via shared mycorrhizal (fungal and plant) networks, they are highly dependent on the activities of both the fungi and the trees that sustain them,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Consequently, they are particularly sensitive to environmental disturbances, often making them both rare and endangered.”
The rediscovery of T. kobensis making it the northernmost known Asian fairy lantern species. After studying the otherworldly plant, the researchers found that its characteristics, such as its distinct petals and lack of nectar glands, make it closely related to the only North American fairy lantern, Thismia americana.
say the researchers T. kobensis is a descendant of T. americanawhich may have crossed from North America to East Asia via the Bering Land Bridge. T. americana was first found in Chicago in 1912 but has not been seen since 1916.
