New squid-like plant species found in groundbreaking discovery

SCIENTISTS have discovered a new plant genus in Japan for the first time in almost a century.

The plant is known as a fairy lantern and grows up to 3 centimeters high and 2 centimeters wide.

It resembles an octopus with bell-like ‘arms’, but lacks chlorophyll for photosynthesis, according to a new study.

Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize food from carbon dioxide and water.

In plants, photosynthesis generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll.

Fairy lanterns instead eat fungi for sustenance — a practice considered “alien” compared to the more familiar, photosynthetic plants, said study author Kenji Suetsugu of Kobe University in Japan.

An amateur botanist discovered the plant in 2022 in the Kimotsuki Mountains on the island of Kyushu in Japan.

However, due to the long classification process, the plant was only recently confirmed as a new genus.

In fact, the specimen is the first new genus of a plant discovered in Japan since 1930.

Interestingly enough, it spends most of its life underground and only comes to the surface for a week a year.

So far, researchers have found only five individual plants in one location.

Moreover, they predict that the total population of the plant will not exceed 50.

“The unique appearance of this new plant species conjures up images of squids or aliens,” Suetsugu said.

“[This makes] it is a truly unusual and fascinating addition to the botanical world,” he added.

The researcher hopes that the Japanese government will protect the plant from endangered species.

The scientists also proposed the Japanese name for the plant: mujina-no-shokudai.

A rough translation of the term amounts to “a raccoon dog’s candlestick.”