Check out our Introduction to Altmetrics post. Anderson G. Circadian control sheds light on fungal bioluminescence. Current Biology. Foxfire: Bioluminescence in the forest. This bark glows in the dark! The scientific term for this glow is bioluminescence, which means light given off by living things. The best way to see fox-fire is in old, moist oak woods where plenty of big dead limbs and old stumps litter the ground. Fox-fire can be seen in the spring as the forest floor warms.
The light is so dim, many people never notice it. To see fox-fire, pick a night with no moon. Keep away from areas with artificial lights and do not use a flashlight.
Your eyes must be well adjusted to the dark. The glow of fox-fire is powered by fungi consuming rotting wood. The fungi inside this wood produce light as a byproduct of growth. It is the mat of growing fungal strands, or mycelium, not the mushroom that usually glows.
The most common luminous fungi is a root rot fungus found on many hardwood trees. Light is produced when the fungi break down food materials within the wood in the presence of oxygen. Some claim to have read by the light. I have seen photos that show the glow, but they are usually time exposure with special equipment. The only time this light might appear bright would probably in thick woods on a moonless or cloudy night, or somewhere very dark like a cave or mine.
Interestingly, the cause of foxfire was apparently discovered in because wooden support beams inside a mine seemed to glow in the dark, but upon further examination it was determined that fungus growing on the wood that was glowing.
Bioluminescent fungi seem to emit a glow in darkness to attract insects to aid in spreading spores. I was working out in the woods and saw a big sturdy looking cup-shaped orange mushroom. It was under a thick canopy of aspen leaves, with a lot of dead wood on the ground. And of course, up until recently we had been getting regular heavy rains, great mushroom conditions. I remember thinking at first maybe it was a piece of garbage or something, so I backed up for a second look.
Then I drove away. The type here looks like glowing embers under the leaves or fallen tree trunks. It was very humid and warm. It cannot usually be seen there. The conditions have to be just right. I have seen foxfire in Western Washington state. I was 8 years old and we were leaving my cub scout camp. I looked up the trail and saw an entire stump glowing in the dark. At first I thought I was seeing things, but as we got closer I realized that it was a glowing stump.
I broke off a piece of the stump and took it home. It stopped glowing once the wood dried out. I live in Missouri and we saw some last night. We had the coon dogs out and while stopping to listen to them bark to see where they were, we noticed a glowing on a log by us. I picked some to get a better look at it at home under the light.
It looks like a small mushroom you might see anywhere in the woods. I heard older folks talk about it and they said it was rare to see it. The temperature was about 70 degrees that night.
I have seen it once before about 6 or 7 years before around the same area. Conditions must be just right for it to grow here. I also live in Missouri. It was really pretty awesome. We had no idea what it was at the time until my dad told us the next day. My dad said he thought it was dead wood. I saw this phenomenon about 15 years ago and had no idea what it was. As far as we could tell it was just a piece of bark that could glow in the dark. When looking at the bark under the light, we could see nothing remarkable about it.
There was no visible trace to where the glowing material was. I always guessed that it was some sort of fungus but could never figure out what kind. I even asked people who I believed to be experts and they had no clue.
I think I might have to go back and check again. This is probably why we were able to find it. It was eerie, beautiful and sorta made me feel bad to add more of the wood to the fire. What a beautiful site though! We were camping last night and woke up before sunrise to find wood chips glowing. We had created the chips the previous night in the process of cutting firewood.
Neither of us had seen it before. It looked magical because it was sprinkled all over the ground. Just seen this phenomenon 2 days ago, very weird camping in a field in Devon owned by friends who cut up a fallen tree for the fire. All the wood glowed including the chips on the ground! Never seen anything like it, totally amazing experience.
Last night at our camp site in Ohiopyle State Park Pennsylvania my husband and I witnessed this for the first time ever. I must say it was pretty amazing!
Just experienced this for the first time tonight sept. I have worked for the forest service in many ways and spent many nights in the mountains without ever setting anything like this.
Im in western mass breaking trees up for a fire and get very spooked by this phenomenon. We split some wood earlier in the day from a short log left behind from a previously cut downed tree. As we collecting our fire wood up for our next stay and because we thought it was getting ready to rain.
My Husband started picking up the cut pieces,we noticed something glowing on some of them. First reaction was to check it out in the bright light. We seen nothing but a nice piece of hard wood so we placed in our black trash bag to our surprise you could see it glowing even brighter through the black trash bag.
Once again Nature has another beautiful surprise to show off. The last time we seen something similar was in the Ocean while sailing in the night.
I felt so fortunate to be able to witness it first hand with my hubby. Definitely a night to remember.
Thanks so much for the explanation. My husband and I have noticed patches of bioluminescence in 3 or 4 trees in our yard this fall. We first saw it in one tree, now it seems to be showing up in small patches in other trees — up in the branches.
Does anyone know if something harmful is happening to the trees? Anyone know a cure for my tree? Heilman, the glowing is caused by Armillaria , a fungus that feeds on the heartwood. Eventually the fungus weakens the tree and causes it to break and fall over. If you want to preserve the trees, have an arborist look at them. I encountered some foxfire wood last night its amazing. Im in washing state. We were burning brush at night and came across a whole pile of it Last night.
I just arrived home, at pm, after having seen my first foxfire phenomenon. It was not only luminescent…. I had no idea what a treat I was in for.
Thank you, those who have bothered to read this…. I saw the glowing on stumps and on dead trees quite a few times. All of our camping trips were in NJ or NY state. I remember kicking apart rotten wood or using an ax to chop weed that would glow. The glowing of the chips created would subside over the course of a few days. Come to think of it, the times we would find the glowing wood would be during summer camp or late spring or early fall trips.
I kept a piece of wood from the forest floor, but my mother threw it out. Me and my kids have just found fox fire behind our house in Mississippi. There was a lot of it and it was green. It was in a damp section in the red river gorge in Kentucky. Was seriously one of the coolest things I have seen! Black River Falls Wisconsin.
Wow, this is amazing! Never see anything like this before. I have, twice in 1 summer. On trails in a NJ bedroom community. Once because an animal dug holes in a stump along a trail and the other time where a rotten tree fell over and the inside of the stump and log where it met the stump glowed. This was again by surprise in a bedroom community in NJ.
So it can be seen on clear nights with no cloud cover in otherwise what might be considered bright places. Thanks for the info!
Saw foxfire this past weekend in cosby campground in the great smoky mountain national forest. It was growing on a downed log right outside my tent. Of course I had no idea what it was at the time. I literally thought some irresponsible camper must have burst a glow stick. When it was back the next night I realized nothing man made glows that long. It was absolutely amazing. I thought I was in the movie Avatar. Anyway, thanks for clearing up my questions.
Tionesta PA — chopped wood for campfire — downed a dead pine tree — that night the whole pile of stacked fresh cut wood was glowing and often it had permeated under the bark and was on the inside of the wood. It was amazing and bright. You could not see any fungi or growth under bright light- looked like a fresh cut log but in the dark there were glowing streaks all over the logs and the wood chips all over the ground where we chopped the wood.
Just cut wood for the stove laying in the living room floor. I pulled the bark off and it was amazing. I went straight to the computer and saw your post. I am in Chugiak, Alaska….. Right outside of Anchorage. I will bring in more tonight and if I see it again, I will see about snapping a picture.
We saw foxfire last night, a. It glowed bright white in the interior of the tree where it broke off, and in the root remaining in the ground. We see evidence of whitish threads on the wood that glows. Saw some here tonight in Peace River, Alberta.
At first I thought somebody put their Christmas lights up early. But it was the wood of a tree on its last legs. Mostly blue glow but some red too. This was tree in my back ally. Quite bazaar. Never saw this before. Thanks for the info. I have foxfire in my yard 2 faint green masses in the tree next to my house in my neighbors yard. I live in North Carolina. I know this is an old thread but I believe there is foxfire in the trees behind my house.
It looks like small, glowing green orbs. Yes, we have just cut down an old apple tree that was rotting. Half of it fell down, so my husband cut the rest of it down.
Last night, we saw the firewood on our hearth glowing. We had never heard or seen of it before. That is why I was researching it and found your blog. This tree had a big pile of fungi growing at the foot of it around the trunk. The funny thing is that this year, this apple tree had a huge harvest of apples and they were the best we ever tasted from it. Then part of it fell over and it was all rotted, it was very old, and even the roots were rotted. There is a nearly full moon and the temperature is below freezing.
This is Maine in November. Most is bluish, but there are a few glowing red. We live in Farmingville NY and have been seeing small green globes in the trees at night for the past four days.
Really exciting to see! Wish we could get a picture! Tried to take a pic but it didnt come out good enough. I thought i was going crazy! I googled it and was glad i found ur posts.
Very pretty! We live in southern Mississippi. Today we cleared some wooded land and as I went back this evening to look at the success I noticed something that looked like green coals lying around in one area. I just thought I was see a reflection or something but it was bright enough I looked the second time. It was obviously foxfire, it was very impressive to see something that has to have everything just right for it to come about.
We live in Ronkonkoma and have also seen at least 5 glowing branches up in the trees tonight. I was wondering what that was. FYI the current conditions: It rained a few days ago and the temperature is in the low 40s. Omg,I was googling just now what this was and was lead here as well. Nost were neon green glows but we spotted some that were glowing red as well….
We were a little creeped out as we werent sure what this was. But most say it happens in warm weather and it is by far warm here in Knob Noster, MO…. Just lost a quadcopter in my pine tree trying to figure out what the stang green and red dots were. Just saw this for the first time in south-central Montana.
As he got closer, he realized there were little blue lights — and a few red lights — at the very tips of some branches. Then he noticed it on two other trees in two other back yards. They look a little like tiny Christmas lights but are just at the very top of the trees and way out on the tips. Shining a flashlight on them washes them out. We found this website when we searched for a possible cause. We had never heard of this before. Thanks to everyone for sharing!
Here in Southern Oregon…we stepped out on the deck over the River and saw what looked like bright blue stars with a few deep red ones peeping through our huge madrone tree. They have been shining, not flashing.
There is no green and the blue and red are as bright as xmas lights, but larger…like stars. Can this be fox fire? Tonight was the second time that I noticed patches of glowing green in some tall old trees in my backyard. The larger patch looked like it fluttered. The glowing spots were in different trees than tonight.
Glowing was red and green.. Thanks for the information! Everyone, thank you for sharing your experiences! We are looking at foxfire tonight, in Wake Forest, NC. We managed to get some pictures by leaving the shutter open for several seconds at a time. The lights do not flicker or change intensity, and have remained unchanged for almost an hour. I went online to see if any info was available and found this website. Thank you for helping us figure out that what we are seeing is foxfire!
Follow-up note: over 6 hours later and the foxfire lights are still visible. Final follow-up note: False alarm everyone…our neighbor has a new lighting product that projects many small green lights into buildings, trees, forests, etc. He has several of these, thus the widespread swath of lights that we observed. So, we did NOT see foxfire — we saw new technology holiday lighting.
Pretty, and disappointing, at the same time. I live in a suburban neighborhood in Montgomery, Alabama. I woke up at 4am this morning and went out in my backyard to look at the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night, lots of stars. I got my binoculars and saw that they were oddly shaped and glowing green. But this is December, with temps in the 30s, and these were high up in a tree. I guess my pine tree might be in trouble, but it is a fascinating sight to behold on a cold winter Thanks for solving the mystery.
I live in MN and saw it high up in two trees on an dark early morning walk with my dog. My experience was the same as thinking I was looking at stars.
And then I though maybe it was some weird thing that a bird had eaten and pooped out. However it had happened, it was really magical.
I am glad I found this website and now know it is foxfire. I no longer have to figure the logistics if they had been Christmas decorations. We have been watching this stuff now for 3 nights. It is on several trees, oaks and pines.
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