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Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms discovered

The newly identified mushrooms, which emit a bright, yellowish-green light 24 hours a day, were found in Jamaica, Belize, Brazil, Dominica Republic, Japan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico.

The mushroom caps are tiny, under a half inch (8mm) in diametre and the stems have a jelly-like structure. The glow is easier to observe at night (right)

As if teensy night-lights were dangling from tree trunks and branches, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms illluminate the forests across the globe, Now, scientists have discovered several species of such radiant 'shrooms'.

The freaky findings, reported today in the journal Mycologia, increases the number of aglow mushroom species from 64 to 71, shedding light on the evolution of luminescence in nature.

"If daylight was not so bright you could see them during the day, but the greenish-yellow light does not stand out against daylight so we cannot visualize them," lead researcher Dennis Desjardin of SanFrancisco State University told LiveScience. "But take them into a dark room at any time of day, and wait until your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you'll see them glow very nicely.

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