Thismia americana facts for kids

Thismia americana, also known as thismia or banded Trinity, was a very special and rare flowering plant. It was first found in 1914 by a scientist named Norma Etta Pfeiffer near Lake Calumet in Chicago. This tiny plant lived in wet, sandy areas. It was last seen in 1916. The place where it grew has changed a lot due to factories. Scientists believe this plant is now extinct, meaning it no longer exists anywhere on Earth. Many searches have been done, but no one has found it again.

The Life Cycle of Thismia Americana

Thismia americana was very interesting to scientists because it had a unique way of living. Unlike most plants, T. americana did not have chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the green stuff in plants that helps them make food from sunlight. Instead, this plant was a mycoheterotroph. This means it got its food from tiny underground fungi that lived in the wet areas around Lake Michigan.

The plant had a short life above ground. In July, its roots would grow a small flower head. This head would then produce a tiny white flower. The flower was only about the size of a small jewelry bead. It was very shy and hard to spot.

The Scientist Who Found It

The only scientist ever to collect Thismia americana was Norma Etta Pfeiffer. She was a student studying plants at the University of Chicago. In 1914, she wrote about the plant. By carefully studying its shape and parts, called its morphology, Pfeiffer realized it belonged to a group of plants called Thismia.

At that time, scientists thought Thismia plants only grew in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the bottom half of the Earth. It is still a mystery how this one group of Thismia plants ended up living all alone in North America until modern times.