A parasite that steals all its energy from fungi buried in soil
In the leaf litter of a forest just outside Kuala Lumpur, a small pinkish flower has emerged from obscurity into the scientific record — and almost simultaneously into peril. Named Thismia selangorensis, this newly documented species survives not through sunlight but by drawing nutrients from underground fungal networks, a ghostly existence that places it among the rarest categories of life on Earth. With only twenty individuals ever found, its discovery is less a triumph of abundance than a reminder that the living world still harbors secrets, and that those secrets are often desperately fragile.
- A naturalist's chance photograph of an unusual umbrella-shaped bloom near Kuala Lumpur set off a chain of discovery that led botanists to formally document a species unknown to science.
- The plant survives entirely as a parasite on underground fungi, never photosynthesizing — a mode of life so rare that fewer than 550 species worldwide are known to share it.
- Systematic surveys of the discovery site turned up only twenty individual plants, some sheltering inside tree hollows, with no confirmed populations anywhere else on Earth.
- The forest where it grows is a public recreational area, leaving the species exposed to foot traffic, habitat disturbance, and the slower pressures of climate-driven shifts in soil ecology.
- Botanists are now urging critically endangered status for Thismia selangorensis, racing to establish protections for a species whose basic biology is still largely uncharted.
In November 2023, naturalist Gim Siew Tan was walking near a stream in Sungai Congkak Recreational Forest, just outside Kuala Lumpur, when she noticed a small pinkish flower pushing through the leaf litter — domed like an umbrella, crowned with three tentacle-like appendages. She photographed it and posted the images to iNaturalist. Her first response was wonder. Her second was a question that would matter far beyond that forest floor: what exactly was this thing?
The photos reached Siti Munirah, a botanist at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, who recognized at once that science had no record of it. Working with Tan and colleagues, she investigated the plant's biology and published findings in the journal PhytoKeys, formally naming the species Thismia selangorensis.
What sets this plant apart is not only its rarity but its entire way of being. It produces no chlorophyll and performs no photosynthesis. Instead, it has evolved to parasitize underground fungi, stealing all its energy from mycorrhizal networks buried in the soil. The bloom Tan spotted was the plant's only visible presence — a brief reproductive gesture from a creature that otherwise lives entirely hidden. This places it among mycoheterotrophs, a group of only around 550 known species out of an estimated 435,000 plants on Earth.
After the initial find, Munirah's team surveyed the area and located just twenty individuals in total, some growing inside tree hollows. The species appears to exist nowhere else. Given its vanishingly small population and narrow range, Munirah has recommended it be classified as critically endangered.
The forest is a recreational area, meaning human presence is constant. Climate shifts, disruptions to fungal communities, or any alteration to the soil could extinguish the species before its biology is even fully understood. Thismia selangorensis now exists in a strange in-between — newly named, barely known, already at the edge.
In November 2023, a naturalist named Gim Siew Tan was walking near a stream in Sungai Congkak Recreational Forest, just outside Kuala Lumpur, when she noticed something unusual pushing through the leaf litter. It was a small flower, pinkish in color, with a distinctive domed shape like an umbrella and three tentacle-like appendages extending from its crown. She photographed it and posted the images to iNaturalist, a crowdsourced platform for identifying species. Her initial reaction was aesthetic wonder—the thing was genuinely beautiful. But almost immediately came the question that would set off a chain of discovery: what exactly was she looking at?
The photos eventually reached Siti Munirah, a botanist at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia. She recognized immediately that she was looking at something science had never formally documented before. Working with Tan and other colleagues, Munirah set out to understand the plant's biology and place it within the known world of botany. The team published their findings last month in the journal PhytoKeys, formally naming the species Thismia selangorensis.
What makes this plant remarkable is not just its rarity but its entire way of living. Unlike nearly all other plants, Thismia selangorensis does not photosynthesize. It produces no chlorophyll. Instead, it has evolved into a parasite of underground fungi, drawing all its energy and nutrients from mycorrhizal networks buried in the soil. The flower that Tan spotted was essentially the plant's only visible part—a brief, delicate emergence from a hidden parasitic existence. The umbrella-shaped bloom and its strange tentacles are the plant's reproductive apparatus, its only gesture toward the world above ground.
This mode of life places the plant in a tiny category of organisms called mycoheterotrophs. Globally, scientists know of only around 550 species that survive this way, a vanishingly small fraction of the estimated 435,000 plant species on Earth. The ghost pipe, a waxy white flower found in North America and Asia, is perhaps the most famous example. But even among these rare parasites, Thismia selangorensis appears to be exceptionally uncommon.
After the initial discovery, Munirah and her team conducted systematic surveys of the forest area where Tan had found the flower. They have located only twenty individuals in total, some of them growing inside tree hollows. The species appears to exist nowhere else—or at least nowhere that has been documented. Given this extremely limited range and the small population size, Munirah has recommended that the plant be classified as critically endangered, the highest conservation status short of extinction.
The discovery raises immediate questions about protection and survival. A species with such a narrow geographic footprint and such small numbers is vulnerable to any disturbance of its habitat. The forest where it grows is a recreational area, which means human presence is routine. Climate change, shifts in fungal communities, or any alteration to the soil ecosystem could push the species toward extinction before science has even finished cataloging its basic biology.
For now, Thismia selangorensis exists in a strange liminal space—newly named, barely known, already endangered. It is a reminder that the living world still contains mysteries, and that those mysteries are often fragile.
Notable Quotes
So pretty and unique. Then came: 'What is this?'— Gim Siew Tan, naturalist and photographer
The plant should be considered critically endangered given its rarity and apparently tiny range— Siti Munirah, botanist at Forest Research Institute Malaysia
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a plant that doesn't photosynthesize matter? Isn't it just a curiosity?
It's not about the plant being useful to us. It's about understanding how life actually works. This plant solved a problem—how to survive in a dark, nutrient-poor environment—by becoming a parasite. That's a completely different evolutionary strategy than what most plants do. And there are only 550 species like it on Earth.
So the real concern is that it might disappear before we understand it?
Exactly. We just found it. We don't know how it reproduces, what fungi it depends on, whether those fungi are stable. With only twenty individuals in one forest, it's extremely fragile. One bad season, one change to the soil, and it could be gone.
How did nobody find this before? It's near a city.
It's hidden most of the time. The flower only emerges briefly. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, and you have to know what you're looking at. Gim Siew Tan was paying attention. She photographed it instead of walking past.
What happens now?
The botanists are recommending it be protected as critically endangered. But that's just a label. The real work is figuring out how to keep the forest stable enough for the plant to survive, and understanding what it actually needs.