Thismia americana

Thismia americana, known as thismia[2] or banded Trinity[3] was a species of flowering plant that was first described by Norma Etta Pfeiffer in 1914 as living in wetlands surrounding Chicago's Lake Calumet.[4] The specimen was found in what was then a wet-mesic sand prairie at 119th Street and Torrence Avenue in what would become the industrial neighborhood of South Deering.[5] The plant has not been seen since 1916, and the ground where it was observed has since been extensively altered by industrial development. The species is believed to be extinct.[2] Several extensive searches have not uncovered any specimens of the vanished species.[6][7][8]

Thismia americana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Dioscoreales
Family: Burmanniaceae
Genus: Thismia
Species:
T. americana
Binomial name
Thismia americana
Synonyms[1]
  • Sarcosiphon americanus (N.Pfeiff.) Schltr.

Life cycle

Thismia americana drew interest from botanists because of its extremely specialized ecological niche. T. americana lacked chlorophyll. Instead of converting solar energy, the flowering plant was a mycoheterotroph, utilizing local fungi of the southern Lake Michigan wetlands for its nourishment. The plant enjoyed a short, shy life cycle above ground; in July, its roots would sprout a tiny flowering head, which produced a white flower the size of a jewelry bead.[2]

Thismia americana was published by University of Chicago botanical Ph.D. candidate Norma Etta Pfeiffer, who became the first and only scientist to collect the species. By examining the rare plant's morphology, Pfeiffer determined that it was a species of the genus Thismia, a genus that at the time was believed to occur only in the Southern Hemisphere. No one knows how this isolated population survived in North America until historic times.[2]

References
  1. "Thismia americana N.Pfeiff". The Plant List. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  2. Chew, Ryan (2004). "Thismia Americana - A mystery that still haunts - and helps - the Calumet region" (PDF). Chicago Wilderness Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  3. "Thismia americana". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  4. Pfeiffer, Norma Etta (1914). Morphology of Thismia Americana ... University of Chicago. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  5. Rodkin, Dennis (September 22, 1994). "Searching for Thismia". Chicago Reader. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  6. Bowles, M., M. Jones, L. Wetstein, R. Hyerczk, and K. Klick. (1994). Results of a systematic search for Thismia americana Pfeiffer in Illinois (PDF) (Report). The Morton Arboretum. Retrieved 2018-12-02.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  7. Merckx, Vincent S. F. T.; Smets, Erik F.; Kellogg, Editor: Elizabeth A. (2014). "Thismia americana, the 101st Anniversary of a Botanical Mystery". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 175 (2): 165–175. doi:10.1086/674315. JSTOR 10.1086/674315.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  8. Arthur Melville Pearson, "A Quest for the Great White Grail", Outdoor Illinois XIX:11 (November 2011), pages 6-7.

Further reading
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