Mushroom enthusiasts are rugging up and heading outdoors at night in the hopes of sighting the magical ghost fungus.
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Seemingly normal by day, the fungi’s bioluminescent properties means it glows after the sun goes down.
It’s not known exactly why they glow – but there are theories.
Mainly that the glow will attract insects at night, who will go on to disperse the fungi’s spores, aiding in propagation.
UTas mycologist Genevieve Gates said research was still ongoing into the fascinating omphalotus nidiformis.
”If you look at them during the day, you wouldn’t realise (what they do at night),” Dr Gates said.
“Sometimes you can’t see them glow at night, unless you photograph them. Other people have said that, they’ve gone camping and they’ve felt like something is watching them… they’ve then found these glowing patches nearby.”
For those who are interested in finding a ghost fungus of their own, now is the time to grab your torch and get hunting.
Launceston nature photographer Charlie Price has been photographing this fungus and others for years. She suggested locations such as Cataract Gorge and Kate Reed Reserve in Launceston as fungus hot-spots.
Dr Gates, who is based in the South, suggested Dooleys Hill at Latrobe, and Coles Bay, as other good hunting grounds.
They like to grow out of tree stumps, or decaying wood.
“It’s best to go out after a big, heavy dump of rain, about a week afterwards,” Price said.
“It’s always best to find it during the day. Once you know what to look for, you spend a lot of time looking around old eucalyptus trunks or old tree stumps.
“Mark your spot, so you’re not wandering around in the dark. And take something to kneel on, because the forest floor gets quite icy at night.
“In the camera, you want long exposure. The lowest F-stop setting that you can get to, and 5.6 aperture or lower, the ISO well and truly over 1000 – about 1600 is good - and then a 30-second shutter speed, to let as much light in as possible.
“If your camera has the setting to have it on a self-timer, so you get as little movement as possible (from you pressing the button).
“The most important thing is getting your focus. Turn your torch on, shine it on the fungus, and manually set your focus on the part of the mushroom that’s closest to you. I always use a macro lens. Then turn the torch off, press your self-timer and it does the rest.”
It does take some time, Price said, to get the settings just right. And those point-and-shoot cameras won’t do – it’s got to be an SLR camera.
“Every night you do it, the glow is different. When they’re fresh, there’s not much happening. About three to four days is when they’re right in their mature time and glowing well. After that the (glow) dwindles off as they get older.”
Dr Gates and Price are part of the Tasmanian Fungi group on Facebook, where pictures of the ghost fungi have begun flooding in from around the state.
Dr Gates said she was surprised at how popular the group had become, with almost 6000 members.
“The page pleases a lot of people,” she said.
“One dear older lady wrote in: ‘I don’t post but I’m in a nursing home and every day I (open) this site up and it just gives me so much pleasure to see everyone’s beautiful photographs’.
“It’s really opening people’s eyes to these beautiful little organisms.”
Dr Gates reminded the public that ghost fungi are poisonous, and should not be eaten.
She also urged people to not take home the fungi if it was found on public property, and leave it be to allow others to enjoy it.