"WeRecycle" illustration in support of mycoremediation (courtesy of Taylor Lockwood)

Mushroom photographer Taylor Lockwood has returned from his expedition to Brazil and the Amazon River region.  While there he was able to get some great new photographs of interesting mushrooms, including the recently discovered bioluminescent species. He reports that there was quite a bit of of local traffic in the area where these mushrooms are found. Apparently a lot of people want to see them for themselves.

In Support of Mycoremediation

The recent oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has gotten’ Taylor thinking about mycoremediation. “I also brought out an illustration of Pleurotus ostreatus “We Recycle“. This was inspired by Paul Stamets’ work. Their time has come. I’ll be on the beaches if they start using mushrooms to clean up the mess.”

Great idea! Someday perhaps mycoremediation can make a contribution to the recovery of the gulf coast. First the oil flowing into the ocean has to be stopped. Like NOW!

Photos of Bioluminescent Mushrooms

With his permission, here are some of the photos Taylor took on his recent trip.

Mycena lucentipes. The specific epithet means "glowing stem" (courtesy of Taylor Lockwood)

Mycena fera (courtesy of Taylor Lockwood)

Mycena deusta (courtesy of Taylor Lockwood)

For more images of bioluminescent fungi taken by Taylor Lockwood on his recent trip to Brazil, check out the Bioluminescent Mushrooms section at Fungiphoto.com.

A Mushroom Photographer in Brasil

I asked him about that planned trip and he was able to say this:  “Yes. I’ll be going to Paraná to work with André de Meijer on a mushroom book of the Atlantic rainforest. After that I will head north to Natal (in the northeast below the mouth of the Amazon) to look for stinkhorns in the dunes near the ocean.”

And that’s not all. “Other factors permitting, I will go to the Amazon after that,” he added.

It certainly will be interesting to see what amazing photographs of strange and beautiful fungi Taylor comes up with on this trip. Taylor, who also operates the website FungiPhoto.com, is currently booking engagements for his Fall 2010 tour.

Some Taylor Lockwood Photos

A group of Amanita mushrooms (Taylor Lockwood)

He sent me a couple of photos he took last year while on a U.S. tour and this seems like a good time to show them off. This first one is of a group of Amanita mushrooms from “rainy MA.” Taylor added, “For those who don’t know, this is unusual in that Amanitas rarely group like this.”

Leccinum scabrosum (Taylor Lockwood)

He identified the next one as “Leccinum scabrosum. Central Connecticut.”

Thanks Taylor!

An excerpt from GLOWING MUSHROOM PICTURES: Psychedelic New Species Seen by Christine Dell’Amore.

Glowing nonstop in the Brazilian rain forest, the newfound mushroom Mycena luxaeterna (pictured both in daylight, top, and in the dark) is indeed a source of eternal light, as its Latin name–inspired by verses from Mozart’s “Requiem”–implies. The tiny mushroom is one of 7 new species of glow-in-the-dark fungi found around the world, bringing the total known to 71, according to a study that appeared October 5 in the journal Mycologia.

You can see then at the National Geographic Photo Gallery for Glowing Mushroom Pictures.

Or you can see some that were discovered in 2006.

There are quite a few recent news articles about this discovery. I’ve looked at them all and here are the two best ones linked below (all the others are pretty much clones of each other and very short). And of course here is a link to the full text article Bioluminescent Mycena species from São Paulo, Brazil. Thank you Mycologia!

Seven New Luminescent Mushroom Species Discovered

Flashy Fungi: Researchers Still in the Dark Over Glowing Jungle Mushrooms