Exhibition "In the Forests of Borneo"
The fairy lanterns
In the understory of Borneo’s rainforests grow tiny and little-known plants called “fairy lanterns,” belonging to the Burmanniaceae family. These plants, only a few centimeters tall, live underground and obtain nutrients through associations with mycorrhizal fungi, without producing chlorophyll. Their flowering is rare and difficult to observe.,When it occurs, it reveals unusual shapes and colors, showing just how surprising and diverse life hidden in the tropical soil can be.
Among the most notable genera is Thismia, with species such as Thismia neptunis, endemic to Borneo, discovered by Odoardo Beccari in 1866 and described in 1878 in his journal Malesia.
Its orange flowers rise just a few centimeters, with thread-like tips, and appear only for a few days each year during the wet season, often hidden beneath the forest litter.
For over 150 years, it was known only from Beccari’s illustration and the fragile dried specimen preserved at the Natural History Museum of Florence, until in 2017 a team ofresearchers from the Czech Republic followed the traces of Beccari’s journey to rediscover this rare botanical marvel.
Discover more on UNIFIMagazine (in Italian)
Illustrations by O. Beccari of *Thismia neptunis* and other Burmanniaceae. Malaysia, vol. 3, 1878.
Photo of *T. neptunis* rediscovered by Czech researchers in 2017 [Sochor M. et al., “Rediscovery of *Thismia neptunis* (Thismiaceae) after 151 years”].