Story behind the art of Maria Alice de Rezende

Curious Allies: Mutualism in Fungi, Parasites, and Carnivores

The Fifth New York Botanical Garden Triennial

Thismia

Thismia variabilis

My first contact with the genus Thismiaceae happened in 2020 at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. Thismia variabilis is another new fairy lantern species described by Diego Ferreira da Silva and João Marcelo Alvarenga Braga, and my painting is the first illustration of this species. My painting is based on collections carried out by da Silva during the rainy seasons of 2021 and 2022 in the southern portion of the Amazon Forest in Acre State, Brazil. He made photos and herbarium specimens available to me for illustration.

I was immediately enchanted by this strange and fascinating genus and became very curious. It was so different from anything I had ever seen in more than 20 years as a botanical illustrator, despite the fact that I have worked for years on bryophyte illustrations. Both Thismia species and bryophytes are very small and difficult to see with the naked eye. On my second trip to the Amazon in 2023 supported by my first ASBA Environmental Artist Grant, I was fortunate to be able to see some in their natural habitats.

Thismia is a genus of mycoheterotrophic plants in the family Burmanniaceae, first described as a genus in 1845. It is native to east and southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas. The genus currently comprises about 100 species, 19 of which are reported to exist in South America, with 16 of them in Brazil, in the Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest, and the Cerrado. These plants are extremely rare and underrepresented in biological collections.

They fulfill the requirements for the exhibition theme of mutualism. They are represented by small mycoheterotrophic herbs, with vegetative and reproductive structures reduced and lacking chlorophyll. These species are called mycoheterotrophic because they depend on relationships with mycorrhizal fungi to obtain carbon and other nutrients essential to survival.

My painting represents from left to right, floral bud, fruiting habit, floral bud in transverse view, and frontal view of the flower showing the arrangement of the tepals and annulus surrounded by three rings.

In terms of conservation status, Thismia variabilis is known to exist in only three locations in the southern portion of Acre Amazon Forest. Recent logging activities and expansion of pasture areas there, combined with the low number of individual plants and their restricted area of occurrence, can result in loss of habitat and put these populations at risk. Therefore, the preliminary assessment proposed for the new species according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria in 2012 and 2022 is Critically Endangered (CR) by meeting the criteria B2ab (ii,iii).

(Thismia variabilis D. F. Silva, Honorio & J. M. A. Braga 2023, sp. nov. - Plazi TreatmentBank)

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Read more about this artist's work: 22nd Annual