Surprising phenomenon Artists discover glowing mushrooms in Zurich forest
By chance, two artists discovered glowing mushrooms in the forest in Zurich-Albisrieden. As it turned out, the mushroom they found was a species that was not previously known to glow.
07.01.2025, 09:04
07.01.2025, 09:12
SDA
Together with a mushroom expert from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), they described the little-researched phenomenon known as bioluminescence, as the research institute announced on Tuesday.
The artists Heidy Baggenstos and Andreas Rudolf collected some samples of the glowing fungus. They had discovered the glow with their camera, as the WSL explained. At first they thought it was Mycena haematopus, a well-known bioluminescent species. Back in their studio, however, they discovered that it was Mycena crocata, the yellow-milky helmet fungus, which has not yet been described as bioluminescent.
"Still little researched"
Light measurements carried out by the artists together with WSL fungi expert Renate Heinzelmann showed that it is not the fruiting body of the fungus that glows, but only the base of its stem and the so-called mycelium, the underground network of the fungus.
Therefore, rotting wood on which the fungus grows can also emit a green glow when split open, the WSL wrote. The glow lasts for up to four hours. If the wood dries out, the fungus stops glowing.
The researcher and the two artists have published a study on their discovery in the scientific journal "Mycoscience". The mushroom researcher assumes that more luminescent species will be discovered in the future. "Bioluminescence is still little researched, and the more people investigate, the more they will find," she was quoted as saying in the press release.
