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,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 gynoecium consists of one carpel. Name The generic name Thismia refers to Thomas Smith (English microscopist, died ca. 1825). It is an anagram of his name.
Conservation Most Thismia species are threatened with extinctionYa, 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 of Thismia melanomitra 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 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, 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 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 are pollinated by fungus gnats.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 fungus gnats and scuttle flies.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 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.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 recognised 108 species in this genus, as follows:
Recently described species include:
2024 Thismia malayana Thismia malipoensis Thismia papillata Thismia perlisensis 2025 Thismia aliasii
Thismia dasyantha Thismia velaris Thismia selangorensis 2026 Thismia daemona
References