New ‘Devil Flower’ Discovered in Thailand

A black-and-orange flower that resembles a tiny devil’s hat has been found nearly hidden beneath the forest floor in western Thailand. The newly identified species, named Thismia daemona, spends almost its entire life under leaf litter and appears above ground only briefly to flower and produce fruit.

Botanists from Chulalongkorn University and Prince of Songkla University discovered the plant while surveying Thong Pha Phum National Park in 2025. Their description appeared in the scientific journal PhytoKeys in August 2026.

Thismia belongs to a group sometimes called “fairy lanterns” because of its unusual flowers. Unlike most familiar plants, it has no chlorophyll and cannot use sunlight to create organic matter through photosynthesis. Instead, it connects to underground fungal networks and receives carbon and other nutrients through that relationship.

The species’ appearance inspired the name daemona. Its flower is almost black, with a red-orange base. Three upper structures join to form a shape resembling a hat, while three long appendages extend from it like horns.

The discovery also expands the known range of the Thismia group. Thismia daemona grows in mountainous forest at nearly 1,000 meters, a higher and drier setting than the low, humid rainforests where most Thismia species live. Genetic and morphological evidence places it in the Geomitra group, previously recorded in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra.

The plant’s survival remains precarious. Researchers found fewer than 50 individuals in a small area measuring less than a football field and provisionally assessed the species as critically endangered. Its only known population lies inside a national park that receives tourists. Because the plant has such a narrow habitat and emerges for only a short period, changes to that environment could affect the entire population. Scientists have described about 120 Thismia species, mostly across Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia.