Fairy lantern flower (11/505)

Thismia-hillii-26508-11.jpg White-faced storm petrelThumbnailsThismia flower

A tiny flower of Thismia hillii. Often called 'fairy lanterns' for the rare, tiny mysterious flowers that appear on the forest floor of upper North Island forests. This parasitic plant has no chlorophyl, and instead gets it's energy from the fungi on which it grows, while those fungi get their nutrition from the plants with which they form a symbiotic, mycorrhizal relationship.

Scientific name
Thismia hillii (syn. Thismia rodwayi)
Common names
Fairy lantern
Location
Walter Scott Reserve, Pirongia, Waikato, New Zealand
Photo ID
26508-11