Glowing Ghost Fungus

I’d heard about a native mushroom that glows in the dark called Ghost Fungi, for years I read about it, looked up where it could be found and dreamed of finding one myself. They seemed rare, every year there would be a news story or two about someone who had found one and some spectacular photos. Then 3 years ago while I was out on a run I passed what I thought was one, I returned that night with camera and confirmed it! With the naked eye the glow is only just discernable but with some low light photography they look amazing.

I saw a few more that season, then even more the next year. After that they’re just everywhere! I dont know if it’s just that I know what to look for now or if they’re spreading. This week I saw two, one growing right out the front of my place, unfortunately right under a streetlight so impossible to see it glow, and a whole troop in the bush just behind us!

The moon was almost full and even though there was a lot of trees around there was enough light getting through that took away from the glow a bit. Still impressive.

The scientific name is Omphalotus nidiformis, the sightings history graph on iNaturalist shows sightings almost flat until 2019 then steadily growing each season to peak in 2024 then slightly decline since then. These are just sightings submitted to iNaturalist so dont necessarily correlate to whats out there year to year but still interesting.

• Ghost Fungus
• Mushrooms
• Photography
• Omphalotus Nidiformis