Usually when I think of Brazil, the first things that come to mind are: gorgeous men, gorgeous men’s butts, and more gorgeous men and gorgeous butts. Today, however, the first thing I think of out of all things Brazilian is this news out of the deep jungles of the country’s bold and beautiful forests. A pair of researchers happened to be walking through the dense jungle when they stumbled upon a cluster of glowing green mushrooms nestled around the base of a rotting tree. After doing some research they realized the mushrooms were first discovered back in 1840 when a British researcher was walking through the streets of a Brazilian town and noticed a group of kids playing with a glowing object. When he realized it was a mushroom he sent it back to England’s Kew Herbarium, where the bioluminescent species of mushroom was named Agaricus gardneri (it has since been reclassified and renamed Neonothopanus gardneri. The last known sight of the glowing funghi, nicknamed the “ghost” mushroom, was back in 1840 and for the past 170 years the species hasn’t been seen since — until the recent discovery. You can read more about the amazing biology of these incredible shrooms by visiting TreeHugger.com.
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