Episode 58: The Devil Flower

<p>In Episode 58 we talk a walk through a mountain forest in western Thailand. It’s May. The air is wet. The ground is a carpet of dead leaves. Small bamboo leans in. Almost nothing down here wants to be seen. Then something does.</p><p><br></p><p>It is not green. It is not pretty in the postcard way. It looks like a thumb-sized lantern that crawled out of a nightmare and decided to bloom. Black body. Three thin horns. Two orange patches near the base that stare back at you like eyes. This is not folklore. This is a plant. And it doesn’t eat sunlight.</p><p><br></p><p>On May 13th, 2025, botanists working in Thong Pha PhumNational Park, in Kanchanaburi Province, found a plant that did not match the book.</p><p><br><u><strong>Sources</strong></u></p><p><br></p><p>https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.278.202868</p><p><br></p><p>https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/202868/</p><p><br></p><p>https://blog.pensoft.net/2026/09/02/new-devil-flower-species-discovered-in-thai-national-park/</p><p><br></p><p>https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1141681</p><p><br></p><p>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260903064217.htm</p><p><br></p><p>https://gizmodo.com/this-newly-discovered-demonic-looking-flower-is-nightmare-fuel-2000806199</p><p><br></p><p>https://www.discovermagazine.com/a-newly-discovered-devil-flower-hides-beneath-the-forest-floor-before-emerging-with-black-petals-and-demon-like-eyes-49625</p><p><br></p><p>https://phys.org/news/2026-09-devil-species-thai-national.html</p><p><br></p><p>https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-abstract/193/3/287/5815711</p><p><br><br></p>