Thismia is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in family Burmanniaceae, known as " fairy lanterns".
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 flowers
[Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. (n.d.-d). Thismia
]
/ref> are erect.
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 extinction[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 of Thismia melanomitra is Vulnerable (VU),[Espinoza, C. & Pitman, N. 2003. Thismia melanomitra
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 Pollination by Sciaridae.[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 gnat and Phoridae.[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[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
/ref>
]
Species
, Plants of the World Online recognises 108 species in this genus, as follows:
Recently described species include:
2024
2025
