Meet Thismia daemona: Thailand’s newly described “Devil Flower.”
This tiny, nearly black plant spends most of its life hidden beneath leaf litter, lacks chlorophyll, and receives nutrients through its relationship with underground fungi. When it finally flowers, horn-like structures and fiery orange-red markings earn its suitably sinister name.
There are fewer than 50 individuals are known from a single site in Thailand’s Thong Pha Phum National Park, and the species has been provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered.
Perhaps the strangest organisms are often the easiest to overlook…and the most urgent to protect.
Get ready for a month of the spooky and grotesque of the botanical kingdom…
Reference: Tosak Seelanan, Isareyakorn Chantapram, Neeranuch Taosiri, Chanachon Chuchuea, Sahut Chantanaorrapint. Thismia daemona (Thismiaceae), a new species from Thailand supported by morphological and molecular evidence. PhytoKeys, 2026; 278: 177