Subject: mystery mycena

From: [email-masked] (Otto Lang)
Date: 1 May 1995 20:30:54 -0400

I wonder if someone can, ummmh, "shed some light" on this
mystery mushroom which glows in the dark.

A York University student called me to find out
where he could collect ~Mycena lux-coeli~, a mushroom
mentioned in "Biology of Plants", by Raven, Ewert &
Eichhorn, 5th edition, 1992, Worth Publishers,p.97
ISBN 0-87901-532-2 (described by him as the 
standard botany text)

The interesting feature is said to be the bio-luminescence.
I have no quoted author(s) of the ; I couldn't find any
reference to it in Singer, Moser, and nobody in the Mycological
Society of Toronto was of any help.

Any info would be appreciated, I'm sure.
Otto

-- 
Otto Lang, Mycological Society of Toronto <[email-masked]> Fidonet 1:250/228
OR <[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (Tom Volk)
Date: Thu, 4 May 1995 12:52:02 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Otto Lang) writes:
>Subject: mystery mycena

>Any info would be appreciated, I'm sure.
Hi Otto. I don't know anything about the species of Mycena you quoted: 
Alexander Smith did not include it in his 1947 monograph of North 
American Species of Mycena.
However, if the student is interested in 
bioluminescent fungi, there are several that are quite common in your area.  
Probably the most common is Panellus stiptucus, a small wood decay fungus 
that is very common. Cultures of this fungus bioluminesce, but apparently 
the bioluminescence is restricted to North American collections.  Also a 
little more spectacular is Omphalotus olearius, the jack-o-lantern mushroom, 
which can be very prolific and glows very brightly if fresh, especially on 
the underside. Some species of Armillaria are also reported to glow(even in 
culture), but I have not observed this. 

Also, "Mystery Mycena" is redundant, IMHO.  :)

---Tom Volk, Center for Forest Mycolgy Research, Madison Wisconsin
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Stamets 1)
Date: 4 May 1995 10:42:35 -0400

Have you considered Mycena chlorophos as a possibility? I 
have this culture should you want a copy. It produces a white
mycelium with, all of things, blue rhizomorphs. Very pretty.

Hope this helps.

paul stamets

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From: [email-masked] (Fred Rhoades)
Date: 8 May 1995 06:25:24 -0700

Otto et al.,

  <Sorry this is a bit late -- had trouble with mail sender>
  There is a color photograph of Mycena lux-coeli (both "on" and "off")
in Paul Zahl's classic National Geographic piece, "Bizarre World of
Fungi" (N.G. Oct 1965).  It is described as growing on Hachijo Island, Japan.

Fred Rhoades
Biology Department, WWU
Bellingham, WA  98225
USA
FAX: (360) 650-3148
Voice: (360) 733-9149

email: [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Shaharin Yussof)
Date: 8 May 1995 02:09:41 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, 
[email-masked] says...
>>Society of Toronto was of any help.

I am currently in the process of setting up some WWW pages for the Sydney 
Fungal Studies Group (a small populist Mycology group with many academics 
involved).  Until I get Australian fungi scanned, I have placed, on one of 
the pages (URL given below), a picture of a bio-luminescent Mycena sp. 
taken by Ken Rubeli and published in his coffee table book about Malaysian 
rainforest.  I too have photographed this species in Malaysia, but did not 
have a copy of my published photo available when scanning photos for these 
pages.

One of the academics here suggested that it might be Mycena chlorophos.

http://149.171.28.211/fungi/forays.htm

Try the above page out - it may not always be up since I'm still 
experimenting with the operation and maintenance of Windows NTS as a 
server, and the pages are not complete since it is only a mockup. The 
pages will also eventually be moving to Sydney Uni, but not for at least a 
month or so.

Don't know if the above helps, but it's at least tangentially relevant!

Shah

    --------------------------------------------------------------   
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