Sunday 24 February 2008

Illuminating question


As far as I can remember it was Tom who mentioned before about this almost illuminating stuff. Especially during dark days you can see it from a long distance and the only place where I have found it is in the forest. Have you ever seen it before? If you did please tell me I'm very curious about it.

22 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

Is it some kind of moss?

Neat photo of the mysterious glowing stuff!

Diane said...

Hi Dick! Thanks again for your visit! Wow, you have some interesting things happening in the Netherlands! Intense sunsets, early spring, and now intriguing "illuminating stuff". You've got a mystery on your hands. Is there a Botanist in the house?? ;-) I can't wait to hear the conclusion!

Kerri Farley said...

I have no idea....but I'll keep checking back to see if you have any answers. Very neat!!

Diane said...

Here's a possible clue. It's something called Foxfire, a bioluminescent fungi, aka Armillaria mellea, which tends to grow on rotting wood in forests. See article below:

http://inamidst.com/lights/foxfire

Lilli & Nevada said...

Nope have not seen anything like this, very interesting post

Andrea said...

Love the moss and the root sticking out of the ground. Nice capture.

dot said...

I've not seen anything like that but I love a good mystery so it will be interesting to find out what it is.

Tom said...

Hi Dick
I find what Diane says and as linked to very interesting and could certainly have something to do with it.
What I tend to see will not show up in the dark though, I think it just reflects the light... it is more like Lichen than moss or fungi.
Great picture and great capture.
I have a link to Dancin' Fool on my blog.. I think she might know what this could be.. I ask her to take a look. He blog is very good by the way.

virtual nexus said...

...My first thought was phosphorescent fungus...then saw Diane's comment. Nice shots.

Donna said...

Great shot...but no ideas!!

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

very pretty esspecially the colours welldone:)

Happyone said...

Don't know what it is - sounds like diane found out though.
It certainly makes for a good picture. :-)

Kunterbunt said...

Oh that sounds mysterious but Diane might be right. anyway, it's a nice photo with the line going so diagonally through the photo.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

I was going to mention foxfire, but I see Diane has beat me to it---my experience with foxfire in upstate NY and in Canada is that you can only see it when it is very dark. But maybe there is another kind of foxfire--cool pix.

The foxfire I have seen appeared greenish.

ANNA-LYS said...

They are head-hunting people from Your country Dick, where I am heading at :-D

Look here and they have also links to other places of the same kind:

http://space4u.blogg.se/

(both in Swedish and English)

Dick said...

Thanks all for your interest. I don't think it's foxfire because this stuff doesn't light up by itself. Tom's description is close and I'm almost sure it's the same. It must be a reflection of light, I wish I could show it to you in real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kostas said...

Marvellous the photographs, I see some white colour, but cannot occupy from the photographs what is this strange!

Neva said...

Not at all familiar with this....looks very interesting...nice shot.

Dancin Fool said...

Hello! I was sent your way by Tom but have just seen that you have also visited The Green Man! It's always good to have a new visitor, particularly a tree enthusiast.

Well I have not seen anything like this in this extent before. The next thing I would be doing is getting in close, touching it and smelling it!

There are some fungus, Stereum spp., that are very white when fresh and appear to glow in the day but I cannot say for sure just from the photo.

I will let you know if I find anything out once I hit the research books. Bye for now!

myonlyphoto said...

I have no idea, nature is wonderful - many questions to answer. Anna :)

Anonymous said...

Don't have any idea what it is, probably some kind of algae, but the pictures are incredible!

Anonymous said...

..possibly a glowing lichen not fungi. There is plenty of research done in this area. Last year new glowing fungi species where found in Brazil.
The mushrooms are part of the genus Mycena, a group that includes about 500 species worldwide. Of these only 33 are known to be bioluminescent—capable of producing light through a chemical reaction.
Great shot..
On the Web, take a look at these sites:
Oregon State University's "Fun with Lichens"
Introduction to Lichens (UC Berkeley)
American Bryological & Lichenological Society
Arizona State University: Lichen Herbarium
Arizona State's Page of Many Lichen Web-page Links
North American Lichen Checklist
Search Recent Lichen Literature
Take care
cheers from Canada.