įoxfire was used to illuminate the needles on the barometer and the compass of Turtle, an early submarine. The Roman thinker Pliny the Elder also mentioned glowing wood in olive groves. The oldest recorded documentation of foxfire is from 382 B.C., by Aristotle, whose notes refer to a light that, unlike fire, was cold to the touch. Although generally very dim, in some cases foxfire is bright enough to read by. Some believe that the light attracts insects to spread spores, or acts as a warning to hungry animals, like the bright colors exhibited by some poisonous or unpalatable animal species. The bluish-green glow is attributed to luciferin, which emits light after oxidation catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase. It occurs in a number of species, including Panellus stipticus, Omphalotus olearius and Omphalotus nidiformis. The phenomenon has been known since ancient times, with its source determined in 1823.įoxfire is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood. The bluish-green glow is attributed to a luciferase, an oxidative enzyme, which emits light as it reacts with a luciferin. ![]() ![]() Artificial fill light contrasts against the natural glow.įoxfire, also called fairy fire and chimpanzee fire, is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood.
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