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Springbrook Research Centre Luminous mushrooms Mycena chlorophanos [Shepherd & Totterdell 1988] (formerly for study purposes  Mycena Type_C )

Brief overview only:


Mycena chlorophanos  (Status = common) this medium size clustering specimen has a distinctive dark brown cap on the pileus.  Approximately 15-20mm pileus diameter.
This mushroom would be the most commonly sighted of all the luminous Mycena mushrooms in Australia having been reported to this website by interested people from as far North as Cairns in North Queensland to as far South as Sydney in New South Wales and also offshore on Lord Howe Island.
Some confusion accompanies the correct name of this mushroom as contained in observations by Aberdeen (1979: 'chlorophanus'), Grgurinovic & May (2003), Shepherd & Totterdell (1988: 'chlorophanos'), Young (1994: 'chlorophanus'), so in the interest of simplicity I have elected to use the local name in recent publications viz: Mycena chlorophanos.

Interesting story:
We have large sightings reported of this species of mushroom in Brisbane throughout the summer, and most of the reported sightings have been on the dwarf date palm viz: Phoenix roebelenii.
Phoenix roebelenii (Pygmy Date Palm or Miniature Date Palm) is a species of date palm that is native not only to south western China (Yunnan Province) but also right through the tropical forests of south east of Asia and in particular, Thailand and Burma.
Now, the very first seeds of this palm tree imported into Australia probably brought with them the fungus of Mycena Chlorophanos. The seeds when germinated and grown into trees in pots and sold therefore had the fungus within the structure of each tree and when seeds matured on these trees the fungus was carried by the seeds into the next generation etc. which probably accounts for the widespread nature of this species of luminous mushroom in tropical Australia.

Springbrook's larger and smaller luminous mushrooms have been incorrectly named.

The writer refutes the misnomer "Mycena chlorophos" given to our luminous mushroom species by others.
It does not pertain to the three larger Mycena species of luminous mushroom found in the Springbrook area.

Mycena chlorophos (Berk. & M. A. Curtis 1887) is a Northern hemisphere species that compared to Australian Mycenas share two similarities only, viz: they are both bioluminescent species and both are Mycenas. Any other similarities in appearance end there as per the comparisons in the table below .

The 'real' Mycena chlorophos [Kobyashi 1937] was studied extensively by Japanese researchers sponsored by the Sanyo Electric Co.Ltd., at the Tsukuba Research Centre in Ibaraki Japan in the year 2000 and published as two separate papers.

Ref: Mycoscience 41:551-558,2000
Title: Cultural Properties of a luminous mushroom Mycena chlorophos
Authors: Hishasi Niitsu, Nobuo Hanyuda and Yukihiro Sugiyama

Ref: Mycoscience 41:559-564,2000
Title:Fruit body production of a luminous mushroom Mycena chlorophos
Authors: Hishasi Niitsu, Nobuo Hanyuda

The real  Mycena Chlorophos [Kobyashi 1937] from Hachijo Island ( Bonin Islands, Japan)  appears in the pic below .

Apart from the very different visual characteristics, another  obvious difference is that the mycelium of our luminous mushroom does not display any bioluminescent properties when grown on agar.
The mycelium of Mycena chlorophanos however does occasionally display bioluminescent properties during the warm wet summer period experienced here wherever it emerges from the logs that have been manually colonised. .

Mycena chlorophanos [Shepherd & Totterdell 1988]
	The largest of these clustering specimens measured 35mm pileus diameter. Soft hardwood log inoculated 2002. Click the image for magnified view
	These clustering specimens measured 15-20mm pileus diameter. The dark brown cap in the centre of the pileus is not evident in Mycena multesimum.[Maguire 1988] or Mycena lampadis.[Maguire 1988] The dark specks are dislodged particles of vegetable material fallen from tree cover that have been firmly attached to the pileus by the sticky fluid coating. Click the image for magnified view
	Cluster of Mycena chlorophanos 2005 growing on a rotting rainforest timber log Click the image for magnified view
	Cluster of Mycena chlorophanos 2006 growing on a rainforest timber log inoculated in 2003. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos   2006 Extraordinarily large 40mm diameter specimen growing on a Foambark timber log Jagera pseudorhus (Sapindaceae). Log inoculated in 2003. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos  2010 Photo by Stuart Webber Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos  2010 Photo by Stuart Webber Digitally enhanced to endeavour to display the true colour of the mushroom light that is more blue than green, however cameras lean more toward green than blue shades when night vision is used. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos  2009 Photo of a specimen from Lord Howe Island Click the image for magnified view
	Specimen #018 Another abnormally large specimen grown in a glass case on a rotting rainforest timber log. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos luminous mushrooms growing on woodchip substrate in a 3 litre jar. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos luminous mushroom growing on woodchip substrate in a 500ml jar. Click the image for magnified view
	Mycena chlorophanos luminous mushroom growing on woodchip substrate in a 500ml jar. Night view same specimen as above. Click the image for magnified view
	Spores of Mycena chlorophanos at 10x magnification through a CCD CMOS camera. Click the image for a larger view

G.Maguire.
Springbrook Research Centre