Mushrooms That Glow In The Dark
With the arrival of Japan’s rainy season, a mysterious type of
green, glow-in-the-dark mushroom begins to sprout in Wakayama
prefecture. The Mycena lux-coeli mushrooms, known locally as shii no tomobishi-dake (literally,
“chinquapin glow mushrooms”), sprout from fallen chinquapin
trees. As they grow, a chemical reaction involving luciferin (a
light-emitting pigment contained within the mushrooms) occurs, causing
them to glow a ghostly green.








