''Thismia'' is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in family

Burmanniaceae Burmanniaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 99 species of herbaceous plants in eight genera. Description These plants are annual or perennial herbs, with generally unbranched stems, some lacking leaves. Some members of this fam ...

, known as "fairy lanterns". They are native to East and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas.

Description

''Thismia'' are

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

,''Thismia'' Griffith. (n.d.). Flora of North America @ efloras.org. Retrieved December 8, 2024, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=132837 achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic, tuberous plants with branched or simple stems.''Thismia'' Griffith. (n.d.-b). Flora of China @ efloras.org. Retrieved December 8, 2024, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=132837 The 1–4 terminal, solitary flowersRoyal Botanic Gardens Victoria. (n.d.-d). ''Thismia''. VicFlora Flora of Victoria. Retrieved December 8, 2024, from https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/57c63c0d-3afa-424a-a2bb-f9a33b0fe033 are erect. The androecium consists of 6

stamens The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

. The

gynoecium Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

consists of one carpel.

Name

The generic name ''Thismia'' refers to Thomas Smith (English microscopist, died ca. 1825). It is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of his name.

Conservation

Most ''Thismia'' species are threatened with

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Ya, J. D., Chen, H. Y., Zhang, W., Zhu, R. B., Cai, J., & Yu, W. B. (2024)
Phylogenetic and biogeographical analyses of ''Thismia'' (Thismiaceae) support ''T. malipoensis'' as the eighth species in China.
Willdenowia, 54(1), 47-63. and many species are only known from very few collections.Merckx, V. S., & Smets, E. F. (2014)
''Thismia americana'', the 101st anniversary of a botanical mystery.
International Journal of Plant Sciences, 175(2), 165-175. For instance, the

IUCN conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of ''

Thismia melanomitra ''Thismia melanomitra'' is a species of plant in the Burmanniaceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed ha ...

'' is Vulnerable (VU),Espinoza, C. & Pitman, N. 2003. ''Thismia melanomitra''. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003: e.T43472A10806123. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T43472A10806123.en. Accessed on 08 December 2024. ''

Thismia malayana ''Thismia'' is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in family Burmanniaceae, known as "fairy lanterns". They are native to East and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. Description ''Thismia'' are perennial,' ...

'' is categorized as Vulnerable (VU),Siti-Munirah, M. Y., Hardy-Adrian, C., Mohamad-Shafiq, S., & Irwan-Syah, Z. (2024). ''Thismia malayana'' (Thismiaceae), a new mycoheterotrophic species from Peninsular Malaysia. PhytoKeys, 242, 229. ''

Thismia kobensis ''Thismia kobensis'' is a species of flowering plant from the '' Thismia'' genus in the myco-heterotrophic family Burmanniaceae. The type and originally only specimen was discovered in Kobe, Japan, in 1992, and preserved without identification, ...

'', which was previously believed to be extinct, is now categorized as Critically Endangered (CR),Suetsugu, K., Yamana, K., & Okada, H. (2023). Rediscovery of the presumably extinct fairy lantern ''Thismia kobensis'' (Thismiaceae) in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, with discussions on its taxonomy, evolutionary history, and conservation. Phytotaxa, 585(2), 102-112. and ''

Thismia americana ''Thismia americana'', known as thismia or banded Trinity was a species of flowering plant that was first discovered in 1912 by Norma Etta Pfeiffer in the wetlands surrounding Chicago's Lake Calumet, and described by her in 1914. The type speci ...

'' is believed to be possibly extinct.''Thismia americana'' N. Pfeiffer. (n.d.). Flora of North America @ efloras.org. Retrieved December 9, 2024, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101975

Ecology

The flowers of ''

Thismia tentaculata ''Thismia'' is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in family Burmanniaceae, known as "fairy lanterns". They are native to East and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. Description ''Thismia'' are perennial,' ...

'' are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

fungus gnats Fungus gnats are small, dark, short-lived gnats, of the families Sciaridae, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Keroplatidae, Bolitophilidae, and Mycetophilidae (order Diptera); they comprise six of the seven families placed in the superfamily Sciaro ...

.Guo, X., Zhao, Z., Mar, S. S., Zhang, D., & Saunders, R. M. (2019)
A symbiotic balancing act: arbuscular mycorrhizal specificity and specialist fungus gnat pollination in the mycoheterotrophic genus ''Thismia'' (Thismiaceae).
Annals of Botany, 124(2), 331-342. The flowers of '' Thismia hongkongensis'' are visited by

and

scuttle flies The fly ''Megaselia scalaris'' is a member of the order Diptera and the family Phoridae, and it is widely distributed in warm regions of the world. The family members are commonly known as the "humpbacked fly", the "coffin fly", and the "scuttle ...

.Mar, S. S., & Saunders, R. M. (2015)
''Thismia hongkongensis'' (Thismiaceae): a new mycoheterotrophic species from Hong Kong, China, with observations on floral visitors and seed dispersal.
PhytoKeys, (46), 21.

Cytology

The

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

count of '' Thismia huangii'' is 2n = 18.Chiang, P. Y., & Hsieh, T. H. (2011)
''Thismia huangii'' (Thismiaceae), a new species from Taiwan.
Taiwania, 56(2), 138-142. The chromosome count of '' Thismia abei'' is 2n = 12.AOYAMA, M., & TSUBOTA, H. (2014)
Karyotype Analysis of Japanese ''Burmannia'' (Burmanniaceae).
Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica, 65(1), 37-42.

Taxonomy

It was published by William Griffith in 1845 with '' Thismia brunonis'' Griff. as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

.BESI, E. E., JABAR, Q. A. M., ABD RAHMAN, S. Y. A. M. I. L., SAAD, M. Z., AHMADNI, A. S. A., & GO, R. (2024)
''Thismia perlisensis'' (Thismiaceae), a new red-annulus ''Thismia'' species from Peninsular Malaysia.
Phytotaxa, 675(1), 1-10.''Thismia'' Griff. (n.d.). The Australian National Species List (auNSL). Retrieved December 8, 2024, from https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/56570

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

recognises 108 species in this genus, as follows: Recently described species include: 2024 *''

'' *'' Thismia malipoensis'' *'' Thismia papillata'' *''

Thismia perlisensis ''Thismia'' is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in family Burmanniaceae, known as "fairy lanterns". They are native to East and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. Description ''Thismia'' are perennial,' ...

'' 2025 *''

Thismia aliasii ''Thismia aliasii'' is a species of "fairy lantern" from the genus '' Thismia''. It was formally described in 2025 by Shakri Mohamad Alias after being found in a forest reserve in Gunung Chemerong, Malaysia. Only 5 individual plants have been fou ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q941028 Dioscoreales genera Parasitic plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Griffith (botanist) Taxa described in 1845