[nickcarraway]

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Thailand?

[BobL]

Damn that’s ugly, probably best for that one to go extinct.

[Pontiac]

The plant has no chlorophyll and never needs sunlight, instead pulling nutrients from underground fungi.

I am not certain that this organism should be classified as a plant. Parasitic plants make up only 1% of all plants. Most parasitic plants make Chlorophyll and provide some of their own sustenance. The rest they get from other plants.

Only a very few take take their food from fungi. Thismia daemona belongs to a strange group of plants that have given up on making their own food from light. Instead, they tap into fungal networks living in the soil and essentially live as permanent freeloaders, pulling nutrients from fungi rather than the sun.

The only other parasitic plant I can find that feeds on fungus is that Ghost Plant (or Indian Pipe). What classifies these plants as plants other than their reproductive strategy

[metmom]

I’ll go for “plant” but not “flower”.

[BradyLS]

Kinda looks like a giant bee or hornet!

[DannyTN]

This should be a warning to all fungi’s.

[dayglored]

Ping

[MayflowerMadam]

“a strange group of plants that have given up on making their own food from light.”

Or ... that’s how God created them.