{"id":36636,"date":"2026-09-14T11:55:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=36636"},"modified":"2026-09-14T11:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:55:46","slug":"thismia-daemona-devil-flower-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/thismia-daemona-devil-flower-thailand\/36636\/","title":{"rendered":"While surveying a mountainous national park, scientists find a black “devil flower” lurking beneath the forest floor in western Thailand, complete with horn-like appendages and glowing reddish-orange patches, and fewer than 50 plants are known to exist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists discover a “devil flower” lurking beneath a Thai forest floor<\/strong><\/p>\n

While surveying Thong Pha Phum National Park in western Thailand, botanists came across something that barely resembled a plant at all. Pushing up through the leaf litter was a small, mostly black flower crowned with horn-like appendages and marked by bright reddish-orange patches that seemed almost to glow near its base.<\/p>\n

It had emerged from beneath the forest floor \u2014 and it looked like nothing they’d seen before<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A flower that barely shows itself<\/h2>\n

Thismia daemona<\/em> belongs to the genus Thismia<\/em>, a group of tiny plants sometimes called “fairy lanterns<\/strong>.” These species share a striking trait: they produce no chlorophyll and carry out no photosynthesis. They are, in the most literal sense, not green plants.<\/p>\n

Instead, they feed by tapping into underground fungi \u2014 a strategy known as mycoheterotrophy. The plant essentially parasitizes fungal networks to extract the nutrients it needs to survive and reproduce.<\/p>\n

This lifestyle keeps the plant almost entirely hidden. It spends the vast majority of its life beneath layers of leaf litter, surfacing only briefly to flower \u2014 and that fleeting appearance above ground is the only window scientists have to detect it. Miss the timing, and the plant is simply invisible. That concealment makes Thismia<\/em> species extraordinarily difficult to find and even harder to study. Researchers can survey the same patch of forest repeatedly without ever spotting one.<\/p>\n

The discovery of T. daemona<\/em> was, by any measure, a fortunate encounter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What makes it look like a devil<\/h2>\n

The flower’s appearance is what stopped the survey team in its tracks. The bloom is predominantly black \u2014 an unusual color in the plant world \u2014 and its upper portion forms a dome-shaped structure called a miter, from which horn-like appendages rise upward. Near the base, bright reddish-orange patches<\/strong> interrupt the darkness, resembling glowing eyes peering out from shadow.<\/p>\n

The effect is genuinely unsettling, and the research team didn’t shy away from saying so. Dr. Sahut Chantanaorrapint of Prince of Songkla University noted that the team unanimously agreed the name Thismia daemona<\/em> captured the flower’s “enigmatic and devil-like essence.” The subterranean lifestyle only reinforced that choice \u2014 a creature of the dark, barely willing to show itself.<\/p>\n

It’s rare for a scientific name to feel this earned<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An unexpected location rewrites the map<\/h2>\n

T. daemona<\/em> was found in Thong Pha Phum National Park at an elevation of nearly 1,000 meters \u2014 a detail that matters more than it might seem. Thismia<\/em> species are typically associated with perennially humid lowland rainforests: consistently wet, relatively flat, warm year-round. Thong Pha Phum is different. At that elevation, the forest is montane and seasonally dry<\/strong>. It’s not the environment anyone would expect to harbor a fairy lantern.<\/p>\n

“Finding Thismia daemona<\/em> in Thong Pha Phum National Park was indeed a major surprise,” Dr. Chantanaorrapint said.<\/p>\n

The geographic implications extend further. T. daemona<\/em> belongs to Thismia<\/em> section Geomitra, a grouping previously documented only in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. Its presence in western Thailand pushes the known range of that entire section farther north than ever recorded. The map of where these plants live just got redrawn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Critically endangered before it was even named<\/h2>\n

The discovery is notable \u2014 but the situation surrounding the new species is precarious. Scientists currently know of just one population of T. daemona<\/em>, and it consists of fewer than 50 individual plants occupying an area smaller than a football pitch. Based on those numbers alone, the species has been provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered. It was formally unknown to science until this survey. It may already be on the edge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The location adds another layer of concern. The population sits inside a national park, which offers some legal protection, but Thong Pha Phum also receives significant tourist traffic. The microhabitat where these plants grow is small and fragile \u2014 foot traffic, even well-intentioned, can cause real damage to the leaf litter and soil structure that T. daemona<\/em> depends on.<\/p>\n

Researchers are clear: conservation action is urgent<\/a> and can’t wait for more detailed study to be completed first.<\/p>\n

Community involvement as the path forward<\/h2>\n

Dr. Chantanaorrapint has outlined what he sees as the most viable path to protecting the species. Rather than simply restricting access, he advocates for an approach aligned with the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere concept \u2014 one that brings local communities into the conservation effort rather than excluding them. A plant this unusual, this rare, and this visually striking is exactly the kind of discovery that can capture local imagination. That engagement, if cultivated, becomes a form of protection in itself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Community-led ecotourism is one proposed mechanism. Managed carefully, it could allow visitors to learn about T. daemona<\/em> while generating economic value for nearby communities \u2014 giving those communities a direct stake in the plant’s survival.<\/p>\n

The research was published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys<\/em>, making the findings freely available to scientists and conservationists worldwide. With T. daemona<\/em> now formally described, Thailand is home to sixteen known Thismia<\/em> species. Whether that number grows \u2014 and whether T. daemona<\/em> survives long enough to be properly understood<\/strong> \u2014 depends on what happens next. The forest floor in western Thailand may still be hiding more surprises. The challenge now is making sure there’s still a forest floor left to search.<\/p>\n

The full study is available here: Tosak Seelanan, Isareyakorn Chantapram, Neeranuch Taosiri, Chanachon Chuchuea, Sahut Chantanaorrapint. Thismia daemona (Thismiaceae), a new species from Thailand supported by morphological and molecular evidence<\/strong>. PhytoKeys<\/em>, 2026; 278: 177 DOI: 10.3897\/phytokeys.278.202868<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists discover a “devil flower” lurking beneath a Thai forest floor While surveying Thong Pha Phum National Park in western Thailand, botanists came across something that barely resembled a plant at all. Pushing up through the leaf litter was a small, mostly black flower crowned with horn-like appendages and marked by bright reddish-orange patches that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"Thismia daemona","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Discover the rare 'devil flower,' *Thismia daemona*, found in Thailand's national park, with fewer than 50 plants known. A shocking botanical find!","footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36637,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636\/revisions\/36637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}