A glimpse of bioluminescent mushrooms in Yunnan

Rare bioluminescent mushrooms emit a greenish fluorescence at night at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan Province. (Photo/Xinhua)

Can mushrooms glow in the dark? Yes, it's true! Such a dreamy and magical scene just appeared at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Footage of several clusters of rare bioluminescent mushrooms was recently captured at the Garden. These lovely fungi feature "nondescript" milky hues in the daytime, while emitting a greenish fluorescence at night. As a result, sparkling spots are scattered all over their trunks, flickering about in the dark.

Bioluminescent mushrooms feature "nondescript" milky hues in the daytime. (Photo/Xinhua)

Bioluminescent mushrooms, as members of the fungi family, can glow in pale blue, light green or silvery white within a shadow or under complete darkness. A few years ago, a photographer took pictures of the glowing mushrooms at the Garden, which has since become a tourist hotspot.

However, not everyone is lucky enough to see these mushrooms in their ideal state, with the brightness and duration of their glow associated with temperature and humidity conditions, as well as varying based on the mushrooms' overall health status and age. 

(Photo/Xinhua)

(Photo/Xinhua)

(Photo/Xinhua)

(Photo/Xinhua)