23rd January 2007

New Glowing Mushrooms Found in Brazil!

posted in Amazing Facts, Plant Species |

Like a poster that came to life, a group of bioluminescent fungi that were collected from Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park near São Paulo, Brazil, gave out a soft green glow when the lights go out.

The mushrooms are a part of the genes Mycena, a group that includes around 500 species all over the world. Out of these, only around 33 are known to be bioluminescent or capable of producing light through a chemical reaction.

Since 2002 Cassius Stevani, professor of chemistry at the University of São Paulo; Dennis Desjardin, professor of mycology at San Francisco State University in California; and Marina Capelari of Brazil’s Institute of Botany have discovered ten more bioluminescent fungi species, four of which are new to science and are present around Brazil’s tropical forests.

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