Abstract
FROM the description given by your correspondent, Richard M. Barrington (vol. vii. p. 464) of phosphorescence in coniferous wood, I should imagine it to be extremely probable that the pieces of Scotch fir in question were infested with the spawn of Polyporus annosus Fr., a fungus very common on the Coniferæ. The mycelium of this plant (as well as the perfect fungus) is well known to be at times highly phosphorescent, and in the Gardener's chronicle for September 28, 1872, I have figured the perfect state of it as seen so commonly in a luminous condition in the coal mines of Glamorganshire. In these deep pits the spawn of this fungus ramifies about the old shoreing timber, and is so highly phosphorescent as to be clearly seen from a distance of twenty yards. Many other fungi with their mycelia are known to be at times phosphorescent, as Polyporus sulfureus Fr. and Corticium cærulcum Fr., both common on decaying wood.
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SMITH, W. Phosphorescence in Wood. Nature 8, 46 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008046c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008046c0
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